Janimé's Sewing Adventures

Orc! Not Shrek!

2011-11-11T09:39:00.001-05:00

Took me longer than I thought, but here's a pic of the finished Orc costume with hubby inside it. And no, he's not Shrek. See his ears? Those aren't Shrek ears. :-)

From Scrapbook Photos

Orc costume is done!!!!

2011-10-27T19:27:00.000-05:00

The Orc costume is done!!!! Burnt hand and all! YAY!!!!! Looks pretty good too. Pics will come tomorrow or Saturday when hubby has the accessories and makeup on.

"Orc" is almost done

2011-10-26T20:08:00.001-05:00

The Orc costume is almost done. Tunic is complete and the breeches are all seamed up. Just need to put the elastic in the waistband and "distress" the hem a bit. Pics will be coming in a few days (want to get the full effect with the make up and everything).

Went to the plastic surgeon today. Turns out the ER doc was wrong (according to the PS) - no 3rd degree burns, just bad 2nd degree burns. Which is really good news - no need for skin grafts or anything like that. Everything is healing up nicely and should continue to do so.

Look ma, no hands!

2011-10-24T17:51:00.002-05:00

Hit a bit of a snag on my husband's Orc costume. I burnt my left hand badly last week - 3rd degree burns on multiple fingers and on the pad of my palm. Spent most of the week with my hand wrapped up in gauze. You never realize just how handy a hand is until you have one that can't really be used - especially when it's your dominant hand.

It's getting better now and I can use all of my fingers pretty well. Well enough to get cracking on this costume anyway.

Orc Costume

2011-10-16T15:34:00.001-05:00

The orc costume for my husband is going well. I have the tunic all sewn together. I just need to put some top stitching on the neck line, and some "fur" trim on the sleeves and hem. Then I'll need to cobble together some "breeches" for him.

2011-10-09T15:35:00.001-05:00

Got started on the orc costume yesterday. I made hiking shirts for the family a few years ago. I took the pattern tracing I used for my husband's shirt (Kwik Sew 3299) and altered it a bit. Changed the neckline to be a deep v-line. We'll use some leather lacing on that to lace it up. Also added 7" to the length. Just extended the original pattern down. I'll probably put vents at the bottom of the side seams. I've got the fabric cut out and the shoulder seams finished.

Getting back into the swing of things

2011-10-08T09:29:00.001-05:00

Haven't been here in a while. Haven't done much sewing in the last year. I've worked a bit on a skirt for my sister - I think I've been "working" on it for about two years now. Heh heh.

The last two years I've been spending my "free" time teaching others about sewing. So I haven't had much time for it myself.

I'm taking a break from the teaching though so I can better focus on home life and work.

So if all goes well, I'll be here a lot more often!

To start with, I have to make an orc costume for my husband.

No Sewcation this Year

2011-02-27T08:12:00.003-05:00

We finally seem to be coming out of the cold weather. We'll have at least one more cold snap before we're done, but for now, I'm just enjoying being warm. I hate the cold.

And the spring-like weather has my thoughts to sewing. I haven't gotten to do much in the way of sewing at all for quite a while now, and I'm missing it.

The last few years, I've taken a Sewcation - a week off from work just to sew. And normally I'd be starting the planning process for that.

But not this year. This year I'll have to skip it. :-(

I started a new job in December - which I absolutely love! But, I don't have enough time built up yet to take a week off. Nevermind that it would be kind of weird taking so much time off before I'd been there 6 months yet.

Next year though, DEFINITELY!!!!

And maybe between now and then, I can clear things off a bit and get back to it. I sure would like that.

Sew Frustrating!!!

2010-09-19T13:17:00.002-05:00

So last week, I worked on finishing up a skirt I'm making for my sister. It's a real simple skirt that I've been working on for about 2 years now. Haha!

I finally got everything ready to go - got the fabric all smoothed back out, and got the pieces all traced and cut out. I started on the sewing part and realized that the embroidered butterflies looked like they were upside down. That was about the time I recalled that the fabric had a nap and direction. And that I cut all the pieces out upside down. Luckily, it's a fairly narrow A-line skirt. I think if I can get my sister to try it on, and if she has enough room to walk in it (it's a long skirt), I can fix the "top" part of it so it will fit well enough. Heavy sigh.

In the meantime, I decided to get started again on a jacket I'm making for my mom. Again, in the works for about 2 years. So I needed to iron the lining out because it's been folded up for a while. And say, where did that iron go!? Oh yeah, in the back of the van. I have to haul it to and from my 4-H sewing club every other week. Heavy sigh.

So I decided then to whine about on my blog. :-)

Scrap Fabric Creations

2010-09-18T11:04:00.009-05:00

Got this book a few Christmases ago. Finally got around to making things with it this summer as experiments before showing the kids in my 4H sewing club how to make them.

Fabric Leftovers: Simple, Adaptable Ways to Use Up Scraps

First I made this little pouch for my cell phone.

From Scrap Fabric Creations

Then I made a box out of some leftover butterfly fabric I had.

From Scrap Fabric Creations

Here's a close up of the tassle.

From Scrap Fabric Creations

The book has some really fun ideas for using scrap fabrics. Some of the items use up so much thread though that it seems like I didn't really save anything. But the items are cute and they are a fun way to whittle down all those scraps I can't bring myself to throw away!

New Banner

2010-05-29T19:37:00.001-05:00

A while back, I asked my daughter to draw me a new banner for my blog. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Slow going

2010-03-18T14:19:00.001-05:00

The Sewcation is going slowly this year. I've only finished up one thing so far; Simplicity 4223 for my daughter. I'm going to try to make one for myself as well, but it's not likely to get finished up completely before I have to go back to my regularly scheduled program.

Let the Sewcation Begin!!!

2010-03-15T08:12:00.003-05:00

Actually, I started doing some work yesterday. But today is the "official" beginning of my week long "sewcation"

Woo hoo!!!!

Getting Ready for Sewcation 2010

2010-02-20T10:15:00.009-05:00

I've got my time off from work approved and in the calendar! Sewcation 2010 is set for mid-March!!

Yay! I had a really, really good time doing last year's sewcation. I didn't get to do a whole lot of personal sewing between then and now though. In part because I took about 35 pounds off the old bod and now I need to rework everything. I also started a 4-H sewing club in the Fall and I've been spending a good bit of my sewing time working with the kids.

Speaking of which, we took a field trip to Joann's last weekend and talk about timing! They were having their President's Day sale going on. Who knew? I'm sure lots of people knew, but I didn't. I can't seem to keep up with that sort of thing.

My mother-in-law came with us and she wanted to get me a birthday present because she hadn't already. What a wonderful confluence of events! Loads of stuff on sale at Joann's and a birthday pressie waiting to happen!

I picked up 10 Simplicity Patterns for $1 each. WhooHooo!!! I'm going to mix some of these with some of the projects I didn't finish in 2009 to build my project list for this year's Sewcation.

Here's what I got:

From New Patterns

There are a few dresses in the mix, which is unusual for me, since I rarely wear dresses. But, the hubby likes me to wear them at least occasionally so I thought I'd see if I couldn't make something that we both would like.

Sewcation Days 3 to 7

2010-02-07T17:09:00.011-05:00

I can't believe I never went back and finished up my notes on my 2009 Sewcation. And here it is time to start planning this year's fun!

So, for my own sense of closure, here are days 3 through 7.

On day 3, I finished up Simplicity 7086. It turned out pretty well - I don't think the pictures really do it justice. I had to take it in almost immediately after making it because I had been losing weight and lost enough that it started really looking like a sack on me.

From Sewcation - March 2009

After finishing up Simplicity 7086, I went on to Simplicity 4076 - View D. I'd made this one before, but wanted to raise the neck line a bit and give it another go. I ended up raising it by 1 and 1/2 inches and made it up in a nice green and pink fabric I picked up from FashionFabrics.com.

This was my favorite out of the 3 that I completed during the week.

From Sewcation - March 2009

A couple days later, I finished up McCall's 4872 - View B done up in a knit from Crybabys Boutique. This was pretty much just a re-do of a basic t-shirt pattern I've used before.

From Sewcation - March 2009

I started in on a 4th shirt - Simplicity 3759 View B - which is a redo of the blue paisley blouse I had done before. I did eventually finish it up. But I wasn't happy at all with how it turned out, so I didn't even take final pictures.

OK. Now I can move on to planning for this year's Sewcation!

Sewcation - Day 2

2009-04-06T19:00:00.006-05:00

I'm about as slow blogging about my sewcation as I am at actually sewing. It doesn't help that in order to use the computer, I have to kick someone off of it!

Did I mention I was slow? I spent most of day 2 on this page.

From Sewcation - March 2009

This is why I've been working on knits for soooo long. The knit shirts I've been working on have 3, maybe 4 pieces. This thing had 7 pieces - some of them twice (i.e. two fronts, two front facings, etc), plus 3 had to have interfacing as well. I'm also still getting the hang of collars since I've only done a few.

By the end of the day, I had gotten all the major pieces together and lacked the armhole facings, the hem, the button holes and the buttons.

If the garment looks unpressed it's because I was having brain farts with my iron. I can't remember why now, but I got it straightened out the next morning and re-pressed everything. After that, it didn't look quite so sloppy.

By the way, the camera doesn't do the fabric justice - which is common enough I guess. It's not nearly as PINK as all that. The little flowers are pink, but the background is almost a very pale lavender color.

Here's where the day ended...

From Sewcation - March 2009

Sewcation - Day 1

2009-03-29T14:17:00.013-05:00

The first day of my Sewcation was on 3/16. I started pretty early - around 6:30 am, and finished the day around 8:45 pm. With a break for lunch, a break helping clean out the back fridge, a break to go grocery shopping, a break to cook dinner, and finally a break to eat dinner. Heh heh - it might seem like I didn't have time for sewing at all!

But I did.

This first day, I started on Simplicity 7086 - View C. I made View B a couple of years ago. It was a project I meant to blog about after I stared blogging, but never got around to it. Here's the original review on PatternReview.com though: Simplicity 7086 - View B. I meant to work View B up again with this really pretty pinkish with little spring flowers on it fabric I found at a local quilting store. But I did not get enough fabric to make the sleeves. So I worked up View C instead.

From Sewcation - March 2009

If you look behind the pattern, you can see my window - it's still dark outside.

When I first used this pattern, I was tracing my patterns onto visqueen. I didn't really like the visqueen very much, so I stopped using it sometime back, and now I use "sewing" fabric (it's actually soil separating fabric) from Carriff to trace my patterns. It took a few hours to get the pieces retraced. Luckily, I had not altered the original pattern any, except to lengthen it by .5". I added the two new pieces needed for the armhole facing.

From Sewcation - March 2009

It took me the rest of the day to cut out the fabric (I trace around the pattern, then cut to minimize damage to my pattern), cut out the interfacing, and to get the first dart made.

Here I am tracing around the pattern pieces...

From Sewcation - March 2009

Did I mention I'm slow? I really am.

Here's what it looked like outside my window once the sun came up. Spring has sprung in our neck of the woods, and we have a really nice crabapple tree in bloom.

From Sewcation - March 2009

Here we are with all of the pieces cutout. There's still the interfacing to do.

From Sewcation - March 2009

One final pic. My DH homeschools our two children. Afterschool, the younger one, my DS, decided he needed to share my workspace to play with his SnapCircuits.

From Sewcation - March 2009

March Madness - My Sewcation

2009-03-22T12:28:00.003-05:00

Take a look at the "2009 Projects" list to the right. That's the list I started out with for my very first "Sewcation".

I took a week off from work to sew, sew, sew. And it was FUN!!!!

I lost two days going camping with the family, but that was fun too. Otherwise, I spent most all of this past week, and this weekend getting in some much needed sewing time.

I started with 10 things on my list and finished 3. HA! Definitely a case of my eyes being bigger than my stomach. It wasn't for lack of trying though. During the week, I woke up at my normal time, and most days was at it by 6:30 am. I usually didn't call it quits until about 8:30 pm. Seems like a lot I suppose, but there were a number of interuptions. Still, I was able to stay pretty focused the entire time. But I'm also a slow sewist, so there ya go.

Pictures and stories will be forthcoming I hope. I meant to do a blog entry each day as I went along, but I always seemed to run out of time for that. And frankly, I wanted to sew, not blog :-)

Simplicity 3759

2008-09-01T11:12:00.007-05:00

I finally finished View B of Simplicity 3759. I swear I think I'm the slowest sewist on the face of the earth!

Here's the final deal:

It took two muslins to get there, but I really, really like how it turned out. I absolutely LOVE the blue paisley fabric (from Gorgeous Fabrics).

Speaking of muslins, the 2nd muslin turned out nicely enough that I spruced it up with some beads so it could be a "wearable" muslin. Made the necklace to go with it too.

Here's the official review for PatternReview.com.
Pattern Description:
Cropped pants or city shorts and knit dress or top, tunic or cropped top and sash.

I made View B - Raglan Tee with gathering at the front.

Pattern Sizing:
Multiple sizes available. I started with a size 18 and adjusted from there.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yep.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Pretty much, although I did not really follow them closely. As others have done, I modified the construction order:
- Attached the sleeves to the front and back
- Attached the neckband
- Sewed the side seams

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like the amount of ease that's built in. It's less form fitting than other knit patterns I've tried, and in this case, it works well.

I didn't like how much the scoop neckline scooped, so I raised it by about an 1". (That's a personal taste thing though - no fault of the pattern).

Fabric Used:
Blue Paisley Knit from Gorgeous Fabrics.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
- Widened the sleeves, waist, and hips to fit me better.
- Raised the neckline by 1"
- Narrowed the neckband by about 3/8"
- Shortened the neckband by about 1"

I also stabilized the entire neckline using fusible bias tape, as the neckline stretched somewhat during the construction of the muslin.

I got the basic idea for this from here, and altered it to fit the circumstances.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes and yes!

Conclusion:
I really like how this top turned out. The paisley fabric looks great. The pattern is reasonably easy to alter to fit and seems well drafted.

Quote quiz

2008-06-22T09:20:00.001-05:00

A couple of posts ago, I used the quote "Where HAVE you been!" as the title and left it as an exercise to the reader to guess where it came from.

I only had one taker - gorgeous things said that it sounded like something Katherine Hepburn would say.

But, as much as I love Katherine Hepburn, the quote didn't come from her. (Ever see The Philadelphia Story? If not you should. My husband and I like to occasionally torture our children by belting out a completely out of tune rendition of "Lydia". A movie that stars Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, AND Jimmy Stewart? How can you go wrong?!)

The quote came from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (the movie, not the book). It was said by Molly Weasley after Ron and the twins rescue Harry from his uncle's house.

It goes something like, "Where HAVE you been! Beds empty, no note, car gone! You could have died! You could have been SEEN!!" I might not have it exactly right, I'm going from memory. Love that quote! Love the lady they picked to play Molly; she does an excellent job of it.

Well, I guess I should say something about sewing, as this is supposed to be a sewing blog. Lately, I've been working on View B of Simplicity 3759. I've made one muslin, which didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. But I'm not ready to give up yet, so I'm on to muslin #2.

I can't wait though until I get enough experience behind me to move things along a little more quickly. Sometimes it seems like I'm NEVER going to get done with a project.

See ya next time!

A Little Embellishment (the easy way)

2008-05-26T10:40:00.005-05:00

One of my sewing goals is to incorporate embellishments - just cause I like them so much!

Sometimes, I can get hung up on doing everything myself. I'm working on a beaded project right now that's taking forever because I'm doing it by hand.

But, there are times when something premade works really, really well.

Case in point. I normally walk by embroidered appliqués because I don't really like how they look. But, I found these really cute embroidered and beaded iron-on appliqués. What I like about them is that they are not fully embroidered, bulky pieces. They are embroidered on the outline only, with beads added in.

I used them to take an ordinary, plain-jane pair of denim shorts I made for my daughter and dress them up very nicely.

The flowers were all separate. I laid them out, then ironed them on per the instructions. Since I don't really trust iron ons to stay ironed on, I used clear thread to tack around the edges.

And here's a close up of the flowers:

These flowers came 7 to a pack from WalMart, and only cost a few dollars. Cool ay?

Where HAVE you been?

2008-05-26T10:08:00.002-05:00

Seems like more and more time goes between postings. I'm behind in reading posts too. But, free time is sparse so I spend it on sewing. And I have to fight the rest of the family for the computer - so there ya go.

First of all, thank you gwen and gorgeous things for your recent comments. They are very much appreciated.

So what have I been up to since working on Simplicity 3536 - View A? Mostly working on shorts for my daughter. She's been growing again - so what's new? But, as the pattern I worked up for her last summer was a little large, it still works for her this summer. I had some more fun playing with decorative stitching on the hems, and I played a little with some instant embellishment.

Today I hope to make another sleeping bag liner for the hubby. He's been wanting one made out of silk. I bought the silk sometime back - it's a very nice brushed silk and I nearly kept it for myself - but I'm just now getting around to making it up for him.

After that, I'm not sure. I broke down and bought a few new shirts. Had to - I haven't been able to make up a normal blouse for myself in a while.

Now for a short quiz - The title for this post is a movie quote. Can anyone guess the movie and the character that said it? Here's a hint - it's a very mom kind of thing to say.

Tootles!

Simplicity 3536 - View A

2008-03-30T15:15:00.001-05:00

Here is my more formal review of Simplicity 3536 - View A

As I have done in the past, I'm going to follow the format used for reviews from PatternReview.

Pattern Description:
This is a set of patterns for 3 different knit tops each with 2 variations - so 6 variations total.

I made View A, which has a cowl neck, longish sleeves, and runching at the sleeves and hem.

Pattern Sizing:
Size P5, which is what I used, ranges from size 12 to 20. I started with an 18 and made alterations for fit from there.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, the results matched the photos and drawings pretty well.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes, I found the instructions pretty easy to follow. I will note, as others have done, that instructions for the shoulder seams and front facing require careful review. Otherwise, they're apt to be misinterpreted. The instructions are good here, it's just a bit of a tricky process.

The pattern itself seemed to be well marked. I didn't notice any obvious mistakes in the drafting.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I LOVE this pattern design - the cowl neck, the runching - all very cute. On the right kind of body. But sadly, mine is not the right kind of body.

My hips are wide, my rear end large, and I have some pooching going on in front. This did not go well with the length and design of this top. The blouse came down below my pooch making it rather visible when viewed from the side. And the length caused the runching to fall around the widest part of my hips. Fabric pooling about my hips is not a pretty sight!

My shoulders are wide, as are my upper arms, but my bust is small in comparison to the rest of me and age is causing my girls to slowly travel south. These things in combination did not work with the top part of the blouse.

The shoulders on this blouse are fairly wide apart, and the cowl plunges pretty far down. The result? A scoop of nothing much showing in front, and nothing really to offset it in the bust area. (To put it bluntly, the top part of the blouse would have looked a lot better if the girls were larger in relation to the rest of me).

Fabric Used:
I only got as far as making a muslin version of this top. For that I used some kind of double knit print from the $1 table from WalMart.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
I only made adjustments for fit. I widened the sleeves by 2", the waist by 2", and the hips by 2".

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I will probably not sew this view again, although I think I would eventually like to try view C. With my body type, I'm not sure the other views would ever have looked right on me, even when I was a much, much thinner girl.

If I were to sew it again though, I would attempt to make it shorter so the runching falls higher up, and I would raise the neckline some. And if I could figure out how, I'd widen the should seams a little.

I would recommend this pattern to others. It is a nice pattern and it goes together easily. At least, give it a try.

Conclusion:
Very nice pattern, but not for me.

This is (one reason) why I make muslins

2008-03-30T14:45:00.000-05:00

I actually started the previous post on muslins more than a year ago, and only got around to finishing it up and publishing it today.

Here's what reminded me of it:

This is my muslin version of Simplicity 3536 - View A. I'll do a more formal review later, but I wanted to address the muslin aspect of this project.

Why? Because I'm stopping with the muslin. I will not be moving on to using the very yummy fashion fabic I had in mind to go with this pattern.

Why? Because after making the muslin, it became very clear that I would not be happy with the outcome.

Who cares? Ummm, I care. Who wants a blouse they don't really like? Actually, I like the blouse. I just don't like how it looks on me!

This particular project reinforces the notion for me that muslins are the way to go. I was pretty disappointed in how this turned out. But no where near as disappointed and unhappy as I would have been if I had "made it for real" and had been as displeased in the results.

Ah, I can hear you now. "But Janimé, isn't this in contradiction to previous posts you've made about not waiting for perfection, or being open to new ideas and experimentation"?

I don't think it's a contradiction. Making muslins is how I keep the door open to new ideas and experimenation, frankly without busting the budget. I can't have too many failed experiments with $8 to $10 per yard fabric, or I won't be able to keep sewing. (YIKES!!!! EEEK!!!! even the thought of not sewing is horrid!).

Muslins, Wearable Muslins, and Test Garments

2008-03-30T14:15:00.000-05:00

I wasn't long in the sewing world before I started hearing the words "muslin", "wearable muslin", and "test garment".

So what is a muslin? And why should you care?

The term "muslin" or "making a muslin", generally refers to making a "test" copy of your garment. That is, trying out a pattern with an inexpensive fabric prior to making it with your chosen fashion fabric.

The term originated from the name for a particular kind of woven cotton fabric that was traditionally used to make the test copy. Muslin fabric can still be purchased today and can be used to make muslins, among many other things.

A "wearable muslin" refers to a test garment made with a less expensive fabric than the chosen fashion fabric, but turns out itself to be wearable. I like those!

People make muslins for various reasons, including:
1. Going through the construction process for a particular pattern.
2. Trying out alterations that are made for fit.
3. Trying out new ideas and techniques.
4. Getting a feel for how the finished product will look.

I'm sure there are more.

I always make a muslin prior to using my fashion fabric for all four of the reasons listed above. I'm not nearly comfortable enough with my sewing abilities to pick up a new pattern and try it out on more expensive fashion fabric without trying it first on some good old $1 fabric from WalMart. Witness the fun I had with the wrap view of Simplicity 4076!

I'm also still learning a lot about what will work for me in terms of looks, and what will not work so well. Putting a muslin together helps me understand how a pattern will translate from the picture (usually of someone half my size) to my own wonderful, but definitely not size 3 body.

So should you make muslins? Like so many other things in sewing, it's a personal choice. But it's a choice I highly recommend. The payoff for getting a garment that I truly like is worth it.

PowerDry T-Shirts are done!

2008-03-16T15:30:00.000-05:00

Remember the stack of PowerDry I started with back in November? I finally finished up with it last weekend. Man what a journey!! I made 12 T-shirts in all, one for each family member in Periwinkle, Teal, and Raspberry.

Here's what the stack started like:

Here's what it looked like after I got all of the fabric cut:

And here's what the finished shirts looked like:

Notice two of the shirts have been decorated. I got Paintstiks for my b-day back in January, and used my Teal shirt and DD's Teal shirt as canvas for a little experimentation.

I like how all the shirts turned out. But can you say, "Janimal won't be doing this kind of thing again any time soon"? I had no idea it was going to take me this long to get the shirts done.

They're done now though and I can finally move on to other things. Whew!

Patterns Used:
Kwik Sew 3043 - View D - XS (for DS)
Kwik Sew 3043 - View D - L (for DD)
McCall's 4872 - View B (for me)
Kwik Sew 3299 - View A (for DH)

Intimidating Inspiration

2008-01-05T08:46:00.000-05:00

I love reading magazines, and books, and people's blogs for sewing inspiration. There's SO much that's wonderful and beautiful out there. I see them and say, "Yeah, I want to make something like THAT!"

But quite honestly, there are times when I find that "inspiration" becomes "intimidation".

I look at something and marvel at the skill it took to make and think to myself, there's no way in Hades I will ever be able to make something that good.

At that point, inspriation very nearly becomes intimidation. And I find myself becoming a little reluctant to try my hand at making those wonderful and beautiful things. And I get a little sad face :-(

I know the answer of course. Buck up! Give it a try! Learn!

Those people who can do wonderful things with fabric and thread, yarns and needles, beads, wood, cars, houses, furniture, canvas, notes, computers and whatever didn't start out that way. They started out knowing NOTHING about those things and built their skills up over time. They played. They experimented. They messed up on occasion.

So you newbies out there, and even you not so newbies, take your inspiration for what it's meant to be - inspriation.

Now go out there and TRY something NEW! :-)

Catching up again

2008-01-05T08:09:00.000-05:00

Hello!

Hope everyone had a good holiday season. I know I did. The downside is, I haven't blogged a bit in 2 months. I have been doing sewing related things though!

Here are some sewing-related highlights:

I finally got to wear Simplicity 3775. I wore it out to dinner with DH for our 20th anniversary. I have a picture somewhere - maybe I'll post it later.
I've finished 4 of the 12 shirts that I'm making for the family out of the PowerDry I recieved sometime back. I have some pictures of the work in progress.
I made 5 "2-minute" (more like 5 hour) shrugs. One for myself and 4 for family. I should probably do a separate post about those since I made a few interesting changes.
I purchased some yummy blue paisley fabric from GorgeousFabrics and a pattern to go with it.
I received 4 new sewing books from "Santa" for Christmas, and they are all really very nice.

And some non-sewing related highlights:

Had my 20th wedding anniversary. WOW!!!
Took a week off and really enjoyed the holidays with the family. It was hard going back in to work I can tell ya.
Made lots and lots of fudge from Ghirardelli chocolate as gifts for friends and family. And in three flavors; "regular", orange, and raspberry.
Made lots and lots of cookies (snicker doodles) for friends and family.
Ate lots and lots and lots of really good food and did no exercise. So guess how my new year will be starting! Tee hee.

Well, that's it for now. TTFN!!!

Long weekend is done...

2007-11-12T16:33:00.000-05:00

We're back from camping!! Nice trip, but COLD!!!! Needless to say, sewing was not on the agenda.

Instead, here's my writeup, finally, on Simplicity 3775. As I mentioned in the previous post, I really like how it turned out.

Let's take the easy way out and use PatternReview's breakdown...

Pattern Description:
This pattern is for a knit dress in 6 variations. I did View B, which is the one with the waist ties, but with the sleeves from View C.

Pattern Sizing:
I started with size 18 and altered for fit. I increased the arm width, waist width, and hip width. I added a tad bit extra to the width of the skirt so it would be just a bit fuller.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yeah, I think so. Hard to tell sometimes when the models are so fit and I'm so not!

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Instructions were easy-peasy. Only I didn't follow them exactly. I changed the order of construction so that I could sew the sleeves in flat.

One note, the waist ties turned out rather long. I've read other reviews were folks had to tighten these up and I had to do the same. I ended up taking about 4 inches off the length of the ties so they would lie flat instead of sagging.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I really like the swishyness of the skirt.

Fabric Used:
Japanesque from Gorgeous Fabrics. This is a very nice knit. I love the print. You can't really see it in the picture, but it has some nice gold highlights in it.

I did have to be careful sewing it as it's pretty stretchy. I starched all the edges heavily before sewing to stabilize them.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I think I may sew this up again; maybe try one of the other views. Although, I'm not sure what luck I would have with any of the cross-over styles. The last cross-over style I tried didn't work out all that well.

Conclusion
Did I mention that I haven't worn a dress in years? I think the last time was over two years ago and it was for a job interview. But dresses were so very popular this past summer and every one's was so cute, I just had to try one too. I was not disappointed - a little late to the game, but not disappointed. This dress' popularity is thoroughly understandable.

PowerDry and Flannels

2007-11-04T12:30:00.000-05:00

I feel like I'm so behind. I can't seem to catch up on my project or my blog reading.

I did finish up Simplicity 3775 during the week, but DH has run off with the camera so I won't be able to do my writeup until a little later. I will say that I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

In the meantime, I've started working on this pile.

This is some PowerDry and Flannel that I got from the FabricandNotions yahoo coop. There are 24 yards there altogether. Everything is washed and ready to go.

I'm starting with the PowerDry first. I've started cutting out DS' tees (Kwik Sew 3043). DD has grown so much in the past few months that I'm going to have to re-do her pattern with the next size. I'll either do that next or cut out my tees. And I never did make up a muslin with DH's pattern, so I'll need to do that real quick before I cut into the good stuff for his tees.

I sure wish I had gotten this started a little sooner. We're off for a long weekend in the woods this next weekend and it would be nice to have a few of our new shirts done. But I don't think that's destined to happen, as I've spent a huge chunk of this weekend babysitting my two-year-old nephew.

Once the t-shirts are done, I'll dig into the flannel. The little doggies are for DS, the flowers are for DD, the leaves for DH, and the "Queen of sparkle" is for me. At my rate, It'll be spring before I actually get these done! HAHA!!!

Simplicity 3775 - Muslin is complete

2007-10-14T13:25:00.000-05:00

I actually finished something!!! YAY!!!

Well, sort of. I finally finished a muslin of Simplicity 3775. It came out pretty nice too. If I can find a nice slip for it, it may even become a wearable muslin.

Here are the particulars:

View B with C sleeves
started with size 18
increased arm width by 1 and 1/2"
increased waist by 3"
increased hip by 3"

The only hangup I had during the process was with the waist ties. They were way too long and hung down dreadfully. I ended up removing about 4" from each tie in order to get it to fit correctly. Weird. Whatever.

I mostly followed the directions. One of the changes I made was to add fusible knit not only to the shoulder seams, but around the back of the neckline as well. I would like to give credit for the idea - but I can't find the particular blog entry I found that in from the 70+ blogs I follow.

So to whomever I got that idea from, THANKS!!! :)

I also choose to sew the bodice and waist pieces together first, then sewed the the sleeves in flat, then attached the skirt in last. The instructions have you put the front and back bodice pieces together, then set in the sleeves. I like sewing sleeves in flat better, so I did it my way instead.

I've already started cutting out and marking the "real" thing.

Crochet Wrap/Shrug Thing

2007-09-22T09:55:00.000-05:00

I have not sewn anything in sooooooo long.

I got rather caught up in an unexpected project.

Here is the end result:

From Wrap it up

This is a crocheted "shrug", "wrap", whatever you want to call it. The idea for it came from the "two-minute instant shrug" article in volume 1 of SewStylish, and is intended to replace my fugly grey office sweater.

Using their directions, and lengthening a little bit, I came up with this muslin.

I wasn't crazy about the muslin fabric, so I went hunting for something else I would like. I had a hard time finding anything that spoke to me, so I ended up crocheting my own fabric. I'm still not 100% statisfied with the results, but the wrap/shrug is cosy and wearable.

Here's how I made it (I'm not a professional crochet designer, nor practitioner, so take these for what they are):

Row 1. Chain 35.
Row 2. Skip 1st ch, sc in next 34.
Row 3. ch 1, turn, sc in 34 sc through the front loop.
Row 4. ch 1, turn, 2 sc in 1st sc, sc in all but the last sc, 2 sc in last sc, all through the back loop
Rows 5 through 30, repeat row 4, alternating front and back loops so that you always pick up the loop on the same side. This will form little ridges across the work all on the wrong side.
Rows 31 through 53 - sc in all sc.
Rows 54 through 80 - decrease in the first and last sc and sc in the remaining sc.

Finish off.

This will give you a piece of fabric that looks roughly like this:

Fold the piece of fabric in half and crochet or whip stitch along the angles to form the sleeves.

As you can see from the pictures, I did a little extra. I can't explain that part formally though. I made a few spirals with a big glass bead in the middle. I worked those in to the middle rows (the ones that were all the same size) by attaching them at the bottom during one pass, then going around the top and back down during the next pass, then filling in on one side of them, then filling in the other.

One more thing. I didn't actually turn the work as I went. I'm left handed and can crochet left and right handed. So I always kept the right side of the work facing me and switched hands as I went back and forth. This also means that I didn't alternate the front and back loops as the instructions indicated. I always worked the front loops so that the ridge would go to the back.

I'm not even going to get into how I ended up going down this path. It's a long, long saga. Part of it included experimenting with different crochet and knit stitches while on vacation - done because I couldn't drag my sewing machine with me.

I'm glad to be done with this thing so I can get back to my sewing.

Three aspects of life meet...

2007-09-05T06:49:00.000-05:00

I am always fascinated by the odd little coincidences of life.

Before I began sewing, I had never heard of "bespoke" clothing. I gathered from my reading that it was custom tailoring, and didn't really think anymore about it.

Then this morning, while reading through one of my geek newsgroup posts (having to do with the Eclipse Process Framework Project for anyone who might be remotely interested), I came across the term "bespoke proccesses". Here's the full quote:

This tailoring of the available process body of knowledge will result in bespoke
processes suitable for a specific project execution environment.

Hmmm... now we've used both "tailoring" and "bespoke" in reference to software development processes - something of a distance from sewing.

So, onto to wikipedia, where we find that "bespoke" clothing is customized made-to-order clothing, and "bespoke" software is customized, made-to-order software. Interesting.

Interesting to find another little tie between my "day job" and sewing.

Interesting that "bespoke" is not more widely used in other areas. Clothing, software, and automobile manufacturing are pretty much it.

Interesting that the reason I've not heard the term "bespoke software" before, for all that I've been in the software industry for 15+ years, is that it's not really used much in the US.

And "bespoke" is just an interesting little word all by itself. It's right up there with "piffle".

So there you have it, three aspects of my life; sewing, computers, and interesting words - all tied up together in one neat little package.

OK OK, I fully admit it. I'm sometimes fascinated and amused by both the minute and odd. :-)

Catching up...

2007-08-26T08:29:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd do a little catching up.

First off, vacation was really nice. We did lots of swimming, some walking, and even a little kayaking.

And even though I didn't get to do any actual sewing, I did do a few little experiments along the lines of embellishment.

Experiment #1: Beaded embroidery

I really like the look of beaded embroidery on garments and it's something I want to try to do sometime. But, I've only done a little bit of embroidery before, and never with beads. So I played a bit with some scrap fabric and a few beads. Here are the results.

This took me an afternoon to work up and I generally like how it turned out. Most of all, the beading itself wasn't too difficult and I think I could incorporate beaded embellishment easily enough.

Experiment #2: Crochet trim

I've also seen crocheted, or crochet-like trims on garments, and wanted to play a bit with that too. Just before vacation, I picked up a book called 150 Crochet Trims. There are a few designs that incorporate beads. Here's one I tried.

I like how this turned out as well. I can see using something like this sometime.

There is an Experiment #3, but it will take a while to go through, so I'll save that for another post.

As for Simplicity 3775, I have finished sizing and tracing the pattern, and I've gotten some muslin fabric for it, but Experiment #3 has co-opted all my sewing time since vacation. Soon though, soon!

2007-08-10T09:05:00.000-05:00

If you haven't been following along, check out the series of posts on the Sartorialist about the stylistic differences between Fred Astaire and Cary Grant.

I think it's comparing apples and oranges myself. And I'm certainly, certainly NOT going to try to pick between the two. I'll take them both thanks :-)

What you can't argue with is that both actors have what DH and I call "Face". It's a characteristic that embodies their presence, the way they carried themselves and their sense of style. It's something they had inside that made it possible to take what might otherwise be an ordinary face and turn it into something admirable.

Humphrey Bogart is a prime example of someone who was not particularly good looking, but who had beautiful Face. Grant was someone who was naturally good looking, but turned it into something more with his Face.

One of the things that gave so many of the actors and actresses of that era their Face, at least in part, was the fact that they didn't shlump about, as so many people do today. They carried themselves with a willful grace - erect, upright and ready to face the world. I think people have forgotten just how much personal power you get when you carry yourself like you mean it.

Sew little

2007-08-06T17:25:00.000-05:00

There is sew little going on. I got to look at my sewing table a few times this weekend and that was about it. Life had other plans for me. Not bad plans mind you, just not ones that involved sewing.

I'm still in the measuring and tracing process for Simplicity 3775 . Did I mention the part about never having made a dress before? So what do I do? Do I pick a "standard" sort of dress to make? Oh no. I've got one that comes with pieces parts that are different from the ones in the books.

In this pattern, there is a bodice piece that ends just below the bust, a waist piece that covers from there to just below the waist, and the skirt piece which starts below the waist. To make it more challenging, the bodice gets gathered in front where it attaches to the waist piece.

It's making my standard "increase the width in the waist and hips" adjustments interesting. To top it off, I think I would like to add some fullness to the skirt. I took some pictures of my fabric laying flat, and then gathered, and I really like the look of the gathering. I also think a little extra fullness would be more flattering for my figure. I've been wishy-washy about this last part though, so I've done a lot of staring, but not much tracing.

It's the last bit to be traced and then I can move on to making a muslin.

Chances are though that it won't happen this week. Which means it won't happen for probably another two weeks. We're going on vacation next week, and it's not the kind where I can haul my sewing things along (AAACCCKKK!!!!!!!!). So that kills this weekend, next week and the weekend after as far as sewing goes.

Ah well, I'll take some crafty things along with me to fill the void and dream about sewing :-)

Nevermind the maneuvers, just go straight at them - Lord Nelson

2007-07-26T17:42:00.000-05:00

I decided to move forward with the Simplicity 3775 using the Japonesque fabric. I think it will look very nice.

Thank you Geek, Adrienne, and Ann for your encouraging words. They were much appreciated.

I'm in the process of measuring and tracing the pattern, but it's going to take some time. We are rolling out a new system at work at the end of August, and I'm in the middle of developing training materials and helping out with training classes. I've only had to work a few extra hours, but the work is exhausting and there hasn't been much energy leftover by the time I get home. Just enough to eat a little something and lift a glass of wine ;)

Awww man!! That's my dress...

2007-07-23T19:21:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling a little like the gal who's gone to a fancy party only to find that my "one of a kind" isn't.

I've been letting the idea of using Simplicity 3775 with my Japonesque fabric stew around for a while. In particular, View B with View C sleeves. I even worked up a picture of it like I did yesterday for Simplicity 6429.

Then I poked around on Pattern Review to see what kind of work has been done with that pattern and what do I find? Take a look at a review of Simplicity 3775 by mahalosu.

Not quite the same view - but the same pattern and same fabric. Heavy, heavy sigh.

(mahalosu's version looks great btw)

So what do I do now?

I'm thinking I'm going to make mine as planned and just not review it on PR. Of course, I'll put notes in about it here. Yeah, there's going to be a certain amount of "that's been done", but I don't think I'll actually be running into mahalosu in person any time soon :)

I've put a lot of thought already into my two planned dresses. I've stared for hours and hours at different patterns and both me and my fabric are growing happier and happier with the choices we've made. I really don't want to have to start looking again.

Did I mention I don't actually wear dresses very often? At least not anymore. Used to a lot more when I was younger. The last time I wore a dress (it was actually a dress suit) was to interview for the job I have now. That was in April of 2005. Since then? Nada.

So how crazy is all this anyway?!! Well, seems like everyone is making them and they're so darned cute!!! They kept calling and calling to me. So I figured it was time I give them a try again.

Any thoughts?

Proof of Concept

2007-07-22T13:31:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to convince my new fabric that the dress patterns I have already really will work. They've had a hard time believing me though, so I thought I'd try out a proof of concept.

This is Simplicity 6429 done up in the purple paisley from Gorgeous Fabrics. I think I like how it looks.

In case your wondering, I used Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI to generate the picture. Here's how:
1. Took the line drawing from the Simplicity site and saved it locally.
2. Cut view C from the drawing and saved it as a separate image.
3. Cut view E from the drawing the layer it on top of View C.
4. Cleaned up the overlap lines a little.
5. Enlarged the combined drawing.
6. Saved a picture of the paisley fabric as a pattern (PSP has a patterns folder just for this).
7. Filled the dress with the paisley pattern. (You may have to enlarge the drawing or reduce the pattern image in order to get the pattern to scale.)
8. Filled in the solid portions with the fill tool. PSP has a nice feature that lets you pick a color from the image you are working on. So I tried a few different colors.

Seems like a lot of work. And I guess it is. But still less work than doing the whole thing up. Now if I can only get it to stretch and bulge in the same places I do!

Harry Potter and Analysis Paralysis

2007-07-21T08:26:00.000-05:00

There's not been much actual sewing going on this week. And there's not likely to be much this weekend either.

Harry Potter B7 is due to arrive any minute, and once that's here all else will be set aside until we know how it all turns out.

On the sewing front, I'm rather stuck in analysis paralysis at the moment.

My family camping/hiking shirt project is on a slow simmer. Only DH's pattern needs to be finished up. The rest are waiting for the PowerDry. For DH's, I just need to work up a muslin to be sure the pattern will work without any more changes. And I'm going to have some time to get that done. Ressy over at Fabrics and Notions let us know that the PowerDry is scheduled to be done at the mill by 9/14. But then it still has to be shipped to Ressy, cut, and shipped out to the coop members. So I'm thinking it will be sometime in October before I can finish out that project. Patience grasshopper.

Now I'm not one to normally have more than one project going at a time, but with that kind of time gap, I'm going to have to make a big exception.

Here's where the AP comes in. To fill the gap, I've been staring hard at two fabrics I got from Gorgeous Fabrics.

I don't keep a large stash, so these two have been berating me thoroughly for not having a firm plan in mind for them. I did have a plan when I ordered them, but once I had them in hand, they said they didn't really care for my plans and that I needed to make new ones.

Whatever I do, they will be completely put out with me if I put them on the shelf and leave them there. They are begging me to turn them into something wearable.

So I'm going to be spending some time trying to hear what these two are saying to me, and trolling through many, many patterns trying to make them happy.

Kwik Sew 3043 - View C

2007-07-15T19:58:00.000-05:00

This weekend I finished up the "muslin" of a T-shirt pattern that I'm working up for DD and DS using Kwik Sew 3043. I finished DS's first (last weekend, actually). Not much to talk about there. I made a size small for him from some waddable white rib knit.

DD's came out quite nicely though, so I turned hers into a keeper. I experimented a bit with finishing the hems differently, and embellished the sleeve edges and neckband with some beads. The beads seem to have dressed a plain T up quite nicely. The "drag lines" in the front are there because she wouldn't stand up straight for the picture. Otherwise, it seems to fit well.

This was my first Kwik Sew pattern. It was a small surprise to pull thick paper out of the envelope instead of tissue! I liked the solidness of it though, and the color coordinated lines (I could see that causing a problem for some people though).

While the instructions were simple and straighforward, they did seem to take more sewing knowledge for granted than some of the other patterns I've used. On this particular pattern, markings were almost non-existent, although every edge was labeled.

This was also my first pattern working with a 1/4" seam allowance instead of a 5/8" or 3/8" SA. That was a little different. I'm not sure I like the lack of wiggle room. If this had been for anything but a simple garment, I would had to have added more SA for my own peace of mind.

All in all, this is a nice pattern. I'm planning on using again many times; primarily for camping and hiking shirts. I'm waiting on some PowerDry I ordered so I can get those going.

In the meantime, I've started on DH's T-shirt version. I'm using Kwick Sew 3299 for that.

PS I got a little more help from DD with her T. I cut the traced pattern and fabric out. She helped with the sewing for just a little bit, then got tired and went on to other things. I'm content with that. I figure if I expose them just a little at a time to sewing, eventually they will pick quite a lot up.

This and That...

2007-07-09T19:53:00.000-05:00

First, a few thank you's...

Thanks everyone for your kind remarks on my 1st (sewing) anniversary. I'm looking forward to many more years of sewing fun.

Geek, thanks for your comment on my wrap top. Maybe it will grow on me. I wasn't very pleased with my paisley top when I first finished it, and it's now one of my favorite tops to wear.

But for now, on to other things. I've moved on to the next big thing, which is working up patterns to use for family hiking and camping T-shirts. I'm going to use McCall's 4872, which I made back in April, for myself. I'll use Kwik Sew 3043 for the kids and Kwik Sew 3299 for DH.

I finished a muslin of KS 3043 for DS this past weekend. It went really quickly. I had him help too. He helped me iron the pattern out, tape the pattern and tracing fabric to the table, trace some of the pattern, and cut some of the traced pattern out. Then he ran off and played. He did pretty well considering the normal attention span of your average six year old.

Then I got started on a larger version for 11 year-old DD. I had her do more of the work - she's traced all the pattern lines for her size. I'll go back now and make sure all the marks and lettering are there. Then I'll help her cut it out.

The tricky part will be to see if I can get DH to chip in and help out on his shirt :-O

And why not? He makes me help pack and setup tents and whatnot when we go camping! ;)

I'm hoping to get some nice TNT's out of these patterns. I can see me churning out T's left, right, and center! I'm getting the patterns ready now because I've got some PowerDry on request over at the FabricsAndNotions fabric co-op. I'm crossing my fingers that the fabric arrives in time for me to whip out the T's for the beginning of the hiking season (which in FL starts back up in September or October).

If there's any lag time between getting the patterns ready and getting the fabric, I want to work on another knit pattern. I'm completely loving knits!

Simplicity 4076 - View A

2007-07-08T12:51:00.000-05:00

Well, Simplicity 4076 - View A is as done as it's going to get for now.

The 4th muslin was not really a charm. Technically it's wearable. And even though it's still incrementally better than the previous 3 tries, I'm still not happy with it.

I'm not sure whether my problems stem from lack of knowledge, or whether this particular pattern just does not suit my body type. Whatever the case may be, I wore the finished product to a family get together on the 4th and I had to fiddle with the darned thing way too much. I may wear it every now and again to see if it grows on me.

Bottom line: I've been working on this pattern for quite some time now and as there are other things I want to try out. So while I really like how this has turned out for other folks, I think I'm calling this one done. Maybe I'll come back to it after some time has passed.

Here's what got modified for the last muslin:

- Started with a size 16

- For the back (on each side)

- Added 1/4" to the shoulder for broad shoulders

- Added 1/2" to the upper back for a wide back

- Added 3/8" to the waist

- Added 5/8" to the hem

- For the front (again on each side)

- Removed 7/8" from the bust

- Added 3/8" to the waist

- Added 5/8" to the hem

Note that I used the pivot and slide method for all alterations.

I sewed all hems with a decorative stitch (#21 on Brother CS6000i). The seams were all sewn with my serger. Oh, and I added a snap to the front to help keep it a little more under control.

1st Year Retrospective

2007-07-07T13:12:00.000-05:00

Now that a year of sewing has passed, a short retrospective seems in order.

The following are the sewing projects I completed (or dumped) in the previous year. One note about my sewing habits. I always make a muslin. That is, I always do a "practice" run of a new pattern with fabric that I like enough to wear, but is not expensive enough that I can't afford to wad it. Sometimes, I end up with a garment that I like the first time through and leave it at that.

And with that, here's the list:

Simplicity 8523 (View A) - Finished full muslin only. Didn't like it.
Simplicity 5562 (View C) - Made 3 while playing with alterations. Really like this pattern and still wear all 3.
Simplicity 7086 (View B) - Made 1 muslin. Like it and still wear it.
McCalls M5107 (View A) - Finished full muslin only. Didn't like it.
Simplicity 6519 (View A) - Finished full muslin. Like the pattern, but not skilled enough yet for this one.
Simplicity 6952 (View C) - Made 1 muslin. Like it and still wear it.
Snuglets - Made 8 of these altogether. Mostly for Christmas presents
Sleeping bag liners - No pattern used for these. Made one for each of our sleeping bags
McCall's M4234 (Pants View D and hat) - Made pants for DD and DS and hat for DS.
Vogue 8332 - Finished full muslin only - completely unwearable. This one whooped my hinny. I may try it again someday. But not before a LOT more practicing and learning.
McCall's M4872 (View B) - Made 1 muslin. Like it and still wear it.
Simplicity 4076 (View D) - Made 1 muslin and 1 "for real". Wear them both regularly.
Simplicity 4076 (View A) - Made 4 muslins. The last one might be wearable. The jury is still out.
Simplicity 3743 (View C) - Made 3 for DD. She likes them and is wearing them.

Not too shabby for my first year!

One Year???? NO WAY!!!!

2007-07-06T17:37:00.000-05:00

It just occured to me that I missed my 1st year sewing anniversary.

Has is REALLY been a whole year already??? Sure enough, I bought my little Brother C6000i, my first few patterns, and an armful of fabric from WalMart on July 4th of last year.

Unbelievable...

Amazing...

How did the 4th get by me without me thinking about it?

It's been a really, really fun and interesting year. Here's to many many more.

Simplicity 3743 - View C

2007-06-26T18:52:00.000-05:00

As promised, here is a closer look at Simplicity 3743 - View C.

I made 3 pairs of these for DD to take to camp. The first I made as a muslin. For that I used an olive-colored denim I had already. The only alteration I made to the pattern was to lengthen it by about 2 1/2 inches.

The back fit DD pretty well, but as you can see, the front is on the large side. I didn't really have time to get that taken care of, but definitely will if I make them again anytime soon.

I will also tinker with putting some pockets in, since there were none included.

The other changes I made fall into the category of "embellishment". First, I mock-felled the inseam and the crotch seam. Then, I hemmed the bottoms with decorative stitching.

I used a leaf stitch on the green pair and a loopy kind of stitch on the two tan pairs. If you stand back a bit, the loopy stitch looks kind of like a decorative coverstitch.

This pattern was really quick and easy to put together. I was able to get all three pairs finished by the Sunday before DD left for camp.

Normally, this would be a pattern that I would highly recommend for a beginner, and it might be OK for the top (dunno really, didn't make that), but the bottoms are missing any instructions on how to make the casing for the waistband. I think a beginner might find that disconcerting, although you could get an idea of how to do it by following the instructions for the casing on the sleeve.

I know though that if this had been my first pattern, I would have gotten really confused.

Anyway, here are a couple of shots of the tan shorts and the stitching I did with those.

Been busy...

2007-06-23T20:55:00.000-05:00

Haven't had much time to post this last week or so.

I've been busy sewing (wow! what a concept!).

I've broken one of my sewing rules, but in a good cause as I have made progress on two of my goals.

I broke the rule that says not to have more than one project going at a time. I'm not finished yet with the wrap version of Simplicity 4076. But, I found I needed to set that aside for a bit to run through a quick project for my daughter.

The two goals I got to work on were 1) making something for a family member, and 2) embellishement.

DD is going to camp this coming week and didn't have enough shorts to wear - 2 outfits a day for 5 days are needed. DH and I hunted high and low on the internet and in a couple of brick-and-mortars for just plain old inexpensive, non-jean shorts. We found a couple of nylon shorts at Campmor.com but couldn't find any generic cotton or cotton blend twill-type shorts anywhere.

Seriously. Those that passed the modesty and style tests (no short-shorts, no fashionably ripped or torn shorts, nothing that had any sort of sluttish or attitudinal sayings stamped on the a**) either didn't have any good colors (white pants for a pre-teen at camp?), or the right size wasn't available.

So I decided to make her some. I happened to have a Simplicity pattern (3743) that I purchased recently for the top, but which also had a pattern for some simple elastic-waist shorts.

I got started on them about a week-and-a-half ago and finished up the 3rd pair just now. A more formal "review" will be coming shortly. In the meantime, here's a sneak peak.

Missing...

2007-06-14T11:47:00.000-05:00

A call has gone out in the sewing community to alert folks to the story of a young lady from New York who has been missing since Memorial Day weekend. Here is her story:

Police step up hunt for missing graduate

Thousands of people go missing every year. Unfortunately, only a very few ever get anything more than passing attention.

America's Most Wanted: Missing Persons Resources

Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Center for Missing Adults

Focus your mind...

2007-06-10T11:01:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking lately about how I want my sewing to progress. I find I need some focus, because there are so many things I want to do. It would be all too easy to attempt to do too much at once and not get anything accomplished.

So, here are my top goals, pretty much in order.

Goal #1: Continue to work on fitting issues
My body is definitely not "ideal". And now that I sew, I think I can fix a lot of the problems I've had over the years with RTW clothing (YEA!!!)

Goal #2: Learn how to make pants
This folds right in with goal #1. My non-ideal shape makes it difficult to find pants that really fit. You folks who analyze clothing fit for fun would have a field day with me! :) I've made a simple pair of drawstring capri pants (Simplicity 5562), and feel like the tinkering I did on those worked well. Now I'm ready to move on to making pants with zippers and real waistbands.

Goal #3: Sew more for my family
I really want to get into making things for DH and the kiddies. DH is especially interested in having me try outdoor/camping/hiking clothing.

Goal #4: Embellish, embellish, embellish
After I started sewing, I started paying a LOT more attention to what other people wear. And I've noticed that in many instances, when I say to myself, "hey, I like that", some sort of embellishment is involved.

That's still an awful lot to get done, but trust me when I say that's narrowing it down quite a bit!

So do you have goals for your sewing?

Simplicity 4076 - View A - Still at it

2007-06-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

Whew! This one is giving me a hard time. But I'm a big believer in what they call "iterative development" in the software industry. So, I've now finished with muslin #3 and will be moving on to muslin #4. I've made a few changes in each. I'm not going to let this one beat me! :)

Muslin #1
I wrote a little about this one already. But to recap, this was made up as per the pattern with no alterations except to make the sleeves slightly wider. The front gaposis was atrocious.

Muslin #2
For muslin #2, I slit the front pieces diagonally from about the center to the bust point and over lapped them by about 1/2". This helped the gaposis a fair bit, but it was still not "quite right".

I stared at this one hanging on Bessy for a long, long time. And reached a few conclusions:
1. The bust area still had too much ease. Especially compared with the waist and hem area.
2. The arms were too tight - even though I had enlarged them some already.
3. The waist and hem area was too tight.
4. The back right below the arms had something funny going on - I assumed because of the too large bust area. In any case, there were folds there.
5. The gathering on the left side seemed to be gathered too much. It seemed to be pulling things out of place.
6. I'm getting "puddles" of fabric right above my hips in back. It's either due to big booty, or sway back - I'm not sure which.
7. And finally, the front still hung a bit too low.

Muslin #3
For the 3rd iteration, I started with a fresh tracing. I figured that decreasing the bust area, widening the waist and hemline, increasing the sleeve width even more, and changing my technique for the gathering would help some, if not all the problems identified with muslin #2. I made all those changes using the pivot and slide method.

All of the adjustments seemed to help - although some more than others. The waist and hemline could use just a tad more space, and the bust area could be trimmed up just a tad too. Also with the adjustment to the bust, the folds that were in back have gone away. But a "new" problem has cropped up.

The width across the top of the back and shoulders is tight. I think this is what's causing the front to cross over lower than I would like. The shoulder seems are pulling out towards the shoulders a bit, which widens the neckline out, pulling the front more open.

The problem is not really new though. I noticed a similar problem when I made up the Paisley version of View D. The shoulder seems are pulling out a bit on that one too, causing the scoop to be wider and lower than I would have liked, although it is completely wearable. I think it's happening because I had to use one size smaller with this pattern than I would normally use (my size range wasn't available).

I'm floundering a bit on how to solve the problem. I gone back and forth through all three of my fitting books trying to find the best strategy to use. I think I'm going to try widening the upper back portion of the pack panel - and maybe even the shoulder area of the front panel. I'm also going to decrease the bust area just a shade more and widen the waist and hemline just a tad more too.

Maybe the 4th time will be the charm!

Apologies for reposts...

2007-06-05T09:43:00.000-05:00

My apologies if you are using a blog reading application like Bloglines and you are seeing a number of reposts. I'm trying to clean up duplicate copies of pictures, and in the process the wrong one is sometimes removed. When that happens, I have to re-link the pictures and re-post the entries. You may also see missing pictures from posts for a little while.

Thanks! :)

Fred the Snake

2007-06-03T16:17:00.000-05:00

I've been working this weekend on my 3rd, count 'em 3rd muslin of Simplicity 4076 - View A. I'm having a bit of a hard time getting the sizing in the bust area right, among other things. So many others have done well with this pattern - it's getting a bit disheartening not to have it turn out right.

In the meantime, I came home from WalMart the other night with 3 yards of a snakeskin buttermilk knit from the $1 table - strictly to be used as muslin material.

DS took one look at it and said "Hey, I want to make a snuggle snake." "A snuggle snake?" says I. A snuggle snake.

So I decided to make this a "learn a little something about sewing" kind of project.

First, I had him draw his snake out. I used his drawing for the pattern.

Then I cut the snake out for him. I found some pink fleece scraps from an earlier project and made a tongue for our little buddy. I basted the tongue on one side. Then I had DS help me pin the pieces together. And then we sewed it.

Of course, big sis couldn't stand it. She had to get into the action.

Once we had the snake sewn almost up, we stuffed it (I had tons of polyfil left over from making Bessy). Then I hand sewed the opening up and put some eyes on.

For now, the snake's name is Fred. He's kind of lumpy, and his tongue is on crooked. But DS likes him a lot and the kids and I got to do a nice little Sunday afternoon project together. Who could argue with that? Update: The snake is "Freddie", not "Fred". I stand corrected.

Introducing Bessy

2007-05-27T08:21:00.001-05:00

Remember this little gal from the 1970's? I had one. She and my Pooh Bear were my constant companions when I was little. I LOVED them! She still reminds me of me. Bad fashion sense, red round cheeks, and all.

Well, now I have my own grown up version. My present for Mother's Day was to get help making my own paper tape dress form.

We didn't make it until this weekend due to time and material constraints.

To make the dress form, I mostly followed the instructions as per an article in SewNews: Sewing Stunt Double. I made one big change though - I wanted a dress form with legs since I don't wear dresses all that much. Weddings and interviews have been it as of late. (Although, with all the cute dresses I've seen all the sewists make this year, that may change.)

We started with a fairly large garbage bag and did the requisite shaping with duct tape. To shape the legs, DH slit the garbage back up to the crotch, and then wrapped the cut edges together around my legs.

Then we wrapped the bottom.

Lesson Learned #1: When the instructions don't work, ditch 'em!!

I hunted high and low locally for the "real" self-adhesive paper tape (not the shiny stuff). I ended up buying 12 small rolls of it online.

And after all that effort? The paper tape was great for its firmness, but it did not want to stick to anything. DH would lay some on and it would immediately start peeling back off again. He was getting very, very frustrated. I was getting very, very hot and sweaty.

Our solution? Clear packing tape. That stuff will stick to anything. We put a base layer of clear tape down, then paper tape, then clear tape, etc. and finished of with clear tape. (We also had to use some brown packing tape because we ran out of the clear stuff, but the clear worked much better.)

The down side to this method is that we didn't put as many layers of paper tape as called for and I think that effected the over all firmness of Bessy. I would like to have put more on, but both DH and I were already getting tired by the time we figured out how we wanted to proceed.

Lesson Learned #2: Crank down the AC, turn on a fan and UNLOCK your knees. After about 15 to 30 minutes in just the garbage bag and a little of the bottom wrapped, I started getting really, really hot - fainting hot. So, we cranked the AC way down (72), brought in a tower fan, and I bent my knees ever so slightly. That helped a lot.

Lesson Learned #3: OTC painkillers are our friends. I can't stand in one place for very long without my feet, knees, and especially lower back hurting. After the first 30 minutes or so, I was not feeling great at all. A couple of ibuprofen later and the world was good once again.

The bottom part took the longest to complete. It would have taken a lot less time if we had not done the legs. But I wanted legs so there ya go.

After the bottom was completed, we did the back, then the chest area, and lastly the diaphragm area. These all together took roughly a third to a half of the time it took to get the bottom done.

Lesson Learned #4: Yes, you can still breathe. Warning for the claustrophics out there. Everything was hunky dory until the last part. As soon as my breathing started getting a little constricted, I got a little panicky/anxious. Just stop for a few minutes, realize you can still breathe and that you're not going to suffocate, and soon you will be able to continue.

And here I am all wrapped up.

Then we cut her off.

Lesson Learned #5: When the instructions say to move around as little as possible, they mean it.

Bessy is pretty representative around the legs and hips, but the waist and diaphragm area are out of whack. That would be in part due my efforts to keep my lungs as expanded as possible while being taped up.

I also have either sway back or big bootie (or both) and that was not captured quite as well as I would have liked. We got enough of it though that I will be able to tell when my fabric is pooling around my lower back area.

DS is an artistic photographer with the point of view of a 6 year old (because he is one). He was completely fascinated with the inside of the dress form and decided it needed a few pics too.

Here we have Bessy with some PJ's on as proof of concept.

And finally, here she is almost ready to go to work. I have to finished the leg, neck and arm edges, stuff her and get a stand for her. I'm hoping that the stuffing will help with her tendency to buckle in the pokie-outie spots. Well see!

Excellent Customer Service

2007-05-19T09:13:00.001-05:00

I live in the boonies - the fabric boonies that is. My nearest source for fabric is WalMart. My 2nd nearest is a smallish Joann's, which is more than 20 miles away. There's really nothing else around for 100 miles or more. I know, I've looked.

As a result, I do much of my fabric shopping online. As my fellow online fabric shoppers are aware, it can be a tricky business at best.

So I want to recognize Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics for her excellent customer service. So rare these days, and so refreshing.

Her site has most of the standard online shopping conveniences to be sure. But sometimes, the real test of excellent and not just good customer service is when something doesn't go quite right.

I made my first purchase from there recently, and the fabric arrived in a timely fashion and in excellent condition, but was the wrong item. The email I sent reporting the problem was not only answered quickly, but also resolved the problem to more than my satisfaction.

No hassles, no questions, no inconveniences. Just a simple acknowledgement of the problem and a commitment to fix it - all with no action needed by me.

I can't tell you how grateful I am to get customer service like that. If every company and vendor out there matched Ann's standards, we would all be much happier customers and shoppers.

So thank you Ann. You can bet your bunnies you'll be getting more of my business.

Simplicity 4096 - View A - Muslin #1

2007-05-13T15:49:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone has had a good mother's day - even if you're not a mother! :)

I got to spend my day sewing. I started Simplicity 4096 - View A - Wrap top a couple of weeks ago and finished up the first muslin today.

I say first muslin because there is going to have to be at least one more.

Lesson #1: Pay attention to those reviews on Pattern Review.

I had read through a number of reviews on this pattern, but the part about there being a lot of ease in this view didn't stick. So, the top part of the top is about 4 sizes to big. Talk about a gaping mess!!!

It's so bad I can't even put a picture of it up - wouldn't be decent.

I did try out an idea for the side gathering which I think I will use again. Instead of using gathering stitches to gather the runched side, I used clear elastic tape pulled relatively taut to create the gathers. I think this worked pretty well and made the gathers more even than I could have done otherwise. I'll take a few pics on the next try to show what I did.

Went Camping Instead

2007-05-07T17:01:00.000-05:00

I didn't get to do much in the way of sewing this past weekend. But that's OK. We went (car) camping at a place called Torreya instead. It's a very pretty park with some nice hiking trails.

I try to stick to sewing here, but these pics came out too nice not to share (double click them to get a larger view)...

We took a fairly short hike on Saturday. The trail we went on crossed one smallish stream. There were these little dragonflies flitting near the water. Their wings were jet black and their bodies were iridescent green/blue. Just beautiful.

The main blooming season is over, but there were a few pretty wildflowers to be seen along the way.

Lastly, a little proof that Florida is not completely flat. Only mostly flat.

And now, as they say, back to our (ir)regularly scheduled program! :)

McCall's 4872 - View B - Complete!

2007-04-28T08:15:00.000-05:00

This past week, I picked the final of McCall's 4872 - View B back up and finished it Friday evening.

There's not much to tell on this one. The pattern and instructions are very straight forward.

I did everything pretty much the same way as with the muslin, except that this time I got the neck band right! This time, I used a regular twin needle that I have to topstitch the neck band, and it worked fine.

The fabric I used is a stretch knit (97% rayon, 3% lycra) that I picked up from Fashion Fabrics Club. It cost $6.34/yrd with shipping (or $4.95 without). It was not bad to work with - not as firm as the green interlock, not as stretchy as the paisley. It's very soft and comfortable.

All in all, this is a really fast and easy little pattern for t-shirts. I suspect I will be using many, many times.

For my next project, I think I'll try out Simplicity 4076 - View A or B (the wrap version) a try.

Simplicity 4076 - View D - Paisley version

2007-04-22T10:35:00.000-05:00

I finished up Simplicity 4076 using a buttermilk knit I got from EmmaOneSock.

This version gave me quite a bit more trouble than the muslin version.

You can't see it very well in the picture, but the neck line is stretched out compared with the muslin's neckline. It's wearable, but only just. Also, the gathering in front didn't stick very well. It got rather smooshed out. There are still a few gathers there, but they almost look like mistakes, rather than something done intentionally.

There were two things that messed me up. One was the fabric itself. The buttermilk was far more stretchy than the interlock I used for the muslin. I spent quite a bit of time futzing with my needles and tension settings on scraps before I even started. And as I went along, I used various techniques to keep the stretching to a minimum.

Alas, the careful preparation and execution did not quite do the trick this time, in part because of the second thing that messed me up. My serger went wanky on me in the middle of sewing the neckband on. The far left thread tightened on the spool and broke (yes I had the cap thingy on to help prevent that sort of thing from happening) .

I finished serging with 3 threads, but had to go back over it with the sewing machine because the other needle thread was not the right color. That'll teach me to use the correct color only on the left-hand needle. By the time I finished with all this messing about, the neckline had gotten good and stretched out.

I was fairly bummed about it. I spent more on this buttermilk than I have on any other fabric before and to have the first project go astray is a little disheartening. Especially when I had done so much to make sure it would turn out well.

I had everything complete but the hems last Sunday, but dawdled all week because I wasn't happy with how it turned out. But, I finally finished it all up last night and it's grown on me a bit more. I'm still not completely happy with how the neckline sits - the stretching has made the top part a little large. But it's wearable, and that's a good thing.

Simplicity 4076 - View D - Another win!

2007-04-15T19:47:00.000-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted.

The time has been well spent though.

I decided to stick with finishing up the Simplicity 4076 project rather than switching back to the McCalls 4872.

As straightforward as this pattern is, I'm glad I did a muslin with it first. It gave me the chance to do a few tweaks that were needed.

One of the things I needed to check were the alterations I made to the pattern. I had lengthened the sleeves a tad and the overall length by about 2 inches based on my pin fitting of the traced pattern.

Also, I was a little worried about the fit in general. The sleeves in particular seemed a little snug. But knit has more give, so I thought that just a little snug would work out OK.

Lastly, I wanted to test out the techniques I would use on the "real thing".

I worked on the muslin throughout the week before Easter and finished it up early Saturday (4/7). The sleeve alteration worked out just fine. Since I was going to use my serger for most of the seams, I had basted the side seams first, and tried it on just to be sure.

And wound up taking the 2 extra inches in the length back off. The extra length just didn't look right.

Other than that, the pattern worked well. Other people have noted that this particular view of 4076 has a flaw in that the side seam notches don't match up. No biggie since the pattern is otherwise well drafted. It was easy enough to make the side seams line up like they were supposed to.

The muslin turned out quite nice - completely wearable.

So wearable in fact that I wore it that afternoon to a family get together (in-laws 50th wedding anniversary). I hadn't washed it since putting it together, so there I was going about in public with chalk marks in the insides of my clothes! The fabric BTW is an interlock knit (50% Rayon, 50% Poly) that I picked up for $1.99/yd at Fashion Fabrics Club.

Here's a pic of the finished muslin. I spent last week and this weekend working on the "real thing" - a little bit at a time. I'm hoping I can have it finished up this week. (I hope I hope).

For the Fashionistas

2007-04-03T06:49:00.000-05:00

Don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.

I'm not a huge follower of "high" fashion. It's just never really been my thing.

But for those of you who are, here's a little plug for a friend of mine. He runs an e-bay store that carries vintage magazines called "More Magazines".

Among his vast collection are vintage copies of Vogue, Vanity Fair, McCalls, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Women's Home Companion, and more.

Each magazine is described in detail, including a listing of all the articles that are in it.

Just quickly exploring this morning, I found an entry for a 1960 copy of Vogue. Here's an excerpt from the e-bay page.

COVER: Suit thinking--are you with it? If you are, there's a new kind of suit, with a new longitude of coat, and a skirt to match. Here, the blazer dazzlement is extended full-length in golden apricot wool imported from France. The coat is piped in white silk shantung; the sleeveless blouse is white silk shantung, too. By Traina-Norell, admittedly Chanel- inspired. Gilt bracelets by Monet. Handbag by Lucille. All at Bergdorf Goodman. The suit, also at Dayton's; Neiman- Marcus; I. Magnin. More golden tones in the new Dorothy Gray lipstick, Jewel of India. Photograph by Horst.

So go have a looksee!

Quick Update

2007-04-02T20:44:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update.

We went camping this past weekend, so I didn't get much sewing done. But I did cut out and start assembling a muslin for Simplicity 4076 on Sunday after we got back. I had traced, altered and cut out the pattern for that last week (View D). I should have the muslin finished tomorrow or Wednesday.

In the meantime, the fabric I had ordered from http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/ came in after we left on Friday. Good thing too, I would have pined for my sewing machine if I had gotten the fabric right before we left, instead of enjoying my outing with my family. This oreder had my 4076 muslin fabric, and my "real" fabric for McCall's 4872.

Not sure what I will do after I finish the muslin. I haven't decided if I will go back to the McCall's pattern and whip that up real quick, or stick with the Simplicity and make that one up.

In either case, these two are quick enough that I think I can get both done by the end of this weekend. It will be nice to have a couple of new tops to put in the closet.

McCall's 4872 - One for the win column!

2007-03-25T15:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I spent the day sewing up McCall's 4872.

This was my first attempt at making a garment using knit fabric, and I'm very pleased with the results.

For this first try, I worked up a muslin using a cheap ($1/yard) knit from WalMart. I think it might be classified as a jersey knit, but I'm not 100% positive about that. The most noticable attribute of this fabric is that it is very thin. Too thin to wear actually. My own attributes don't need that much daylight ;)

I made up view B with just a few changes.

First, I shortened it quite a few inches - maybe 5 or 6. Also, instead of making my normal big arms alteration, I used the XL sleeve on the L bodice. The shirt fit perfectly after these little changes.

I tried making a neck band with the same fabric, and I think it would have worked, except for the part about sewing in on the wrong side. Oooops! I save it by rolling it inside and topstitching it down.

I used my serger for most of the construction including serging the sleeve and shirt hems, turning them under, and topstitching them down. I did a fake coverstitch on the sleeves by running two rows of topstitches with my regular sewing machine (I would have used a double needle instead, but don't have one of those for knits).

(Sidebar explanations for my non-sewing, or beginner friends)

For the longeset time, I didn't know what a coverstitch was. In case you're curious, I'll tell ya. First find a t-shirt. Look at the hem of the shirt or the sleeves. Chances are, you'll see two rows of stitching on the outstide, and squiggly threads on the inside. That's coverstitching. It takes a special machine, or a serger with a coverstitch option, to make those.

So what's a serger? It's a special kind of sewing machine that overlocks and trims the seams at the same time. They've got an OK definition of it at Answer.com. Take a look at the side seams on almost any average piece of purchased clothing, a.k.a RTW - Ready-To-Wear, and they will be serged.

(End of Sidebar)

Lastly, I deviated from the instructions by using a technique called "sewing it in flat" to put the sleeves in. Instead of sewing the sleeve seam together first (making a tube out of it), and then sewing the sleeve to the bodice, you sew the sleeve cap (top) to the bodice and leave the sleeve seam unsewn. Then you treat the bodice and sleeve seams as one and sew them at the same time.

I really, really like this method of attaching a sleeve. My seam intersections come out so much better this way.

Like I said, this try is a muslin. I'm waiting on some fabric to be delivered to make up the "real thing".

In the meantime, I'm getting View D of Simplicity 4076 ready for a muslin workup.

Whew! Busy weekend, but I had a blast!

New Play Pretties

2007-03-25T14:55:00.000-05:00

During the past week I've picked up a few new play pretties:
I don't normally buy a lot of patterns at once. But, Joann's was having a $1.99 sale on McCall's, so I ended up with a couple more than I intended.

The Simplicity 4076 is intended to be used with the paisley knit I picked up from EmmaOneSock.
I've not worked with knit before though, so I wanted something simple to start with. I wanted Kwik Sew 3338, but couldn't pick that up locally.

I thought McCall's 5105 would do the trick, but it's not as basic as I thought it was. I settled on McCall's 4872 as my starting pattern, and I think that was a good choice (more on that later).

The Simplicity 4223 is intended for my DD. I've been looking for a style like this in a child's version, but can't find any that are in print. I want to use some pink flower brocade I picked up a while back that's too girly for me, but perfect for her.

McCall's 4922 has been on my wishlist for a while. I've drooled a bit over the versions that folks have made and reviewed on PatternReview.

Lastly there's McCall's 2094. It's not specifically on my wishlist but the style does suit me and I've been wanting to pick up something like it.

Here is my other new play pretty for the week. It is a roll of "Sewing" fabric from Carriff. (I just want to know who in the world thought of using soil separator fabric for tracing patterns and stabilizing fabric).

As you can see, it's quite thin. Very easy to see through for tracing.

One word of caution though. This stuff is porous with capital "P". Everything goes through it. Even pencil. I like it though. I used it this weekend and it seems to be a good alternative to the other tracing materials I've used.

Vogue 8332 is percoluating

2007-03-22T10:12:00.000-05:00

I can't seem to get this project out of my head - it keeps making that blurp blurp blurp sound in the back of my mind.

I keep reflecting on what I could do differently to make this project a success. One thing I'm definitely going to do - and sooner rather than later - is get my DMIL's input on my collar problem. That's the one thing I haven't been able to think my way around yet.

And dang me for being a stubborn headed mule about getting help from others anyway - I tend to be so terribly bent on doing it all myself - silly me.

I have a sneaky suspicion that this guy will be resurfacing far sooner than I thought.

Making Bias Tape

2007-03-20T18:13:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was making miles and miles of bias tape, and that my bias tape maker wasn't working out as well as I would have liked.

I didn't get through my jacket project, but I did get through the bias tape making part of it.

I did try out the tip on PatternReview and had better luck with it, but still couldn't get it quite right. The fabric still wanted to twist around occasionally.

I solved the problem by using both. I ran the fabric through the bias tape maker, then held it up close to the pin. Here - a picture or three will help I think.

Using both the pin and the bias tape maker worked pretty well for the fabric I was using. At least, I'm assuming I had trouble because of the fabric and not because of me. It seems like I would not have had as hard a time with a thicker, more firm fabric.

We'll see. I've definitely put the making and applying of bias tape on my list of things to accomplish well.

Forgot a rule...

2007-03-19T19:42:00.000-05:00

#5 Don't buy new tops
This is more of a goal than a rule. I really like the idea of being able to pick my choice of fabric and styles, so I've held off buying myself new tops as an incentive to make them. Two tops out of my staple wardrobe are things I've made myself and I'm pretty happy about that. Slacks will hopefully come later.

Sewing Rules...

2007-03-19T11:53:00.000-05:00

I've noticed in reading forum posts and people's blogs that sewists out there seem to have "rules" that they follow in their sewing. So I thought I would explore my own rules, and how important they are to me.

Janimé's Rules for Sewing:

#1 Keep a small stash
Given adequate space and $s, this one would go by the wayside. But, I don't have a lot of space to work with. And I don't have a big budget either. It would be so, so easy to just go crazy over beautiful fabric and never get around to using it.

Been there, done that. I have some crochet thread that's been around for 15 to 20 years. I thought about ditching that stuff in favor of fabric until I read that crochet thread could be used in the serger.

But this rule, and others, helps me ensure that I spend my money wisely and actually get wearable garments out of the deal.

Current stash yardage? Approximately 35 yards.

#2 No UFOs
I have enough of these from other craft endeavors. But it also goes with the first rule. Part of what I want to accomplish is to have stuff I can wear. You can't really wear UFOs.

Current UFO count? Two. Sort of. Both are jackets that I made up muslins for and neither worked out on the first attempt. I want to work on the basics more before I tackle either pattern again.

#3 Must have patterns for fabric and vice versa
Seeing a trend here? I neither want patterns nor fabric hanging around waiting for inspiration from me. That doesn't mean I won't ever get one without the other. But so far, I've pretty much had something definite in mind when purchasing either.

#4 One project at a time
This is one way in which I keep myself from having UFOs hanging about. But it's not a strict rule. There is value in thinking ahead to the next project (or projects) and having a few items in the pipepline. My sewing time is limited though and I don't want to lose focus by trying to bounce between too many things.

I have helped myself out by putting a project plan together that holds my current and future projects. (I'm using Microsoft Project for that). This is probably overkill for most people, but it helps me stay very focused on what steps I need to take next, while allowing me the flexibility to get future projects lined up.

So what are your favorite sewing rules?

Vogue 8332 - UNCLE!!!

2007-03-18T20:05:00.000-05:00

OK! OK! UNCLE!

This project has really whipped my hiney and I hereby throw in the towel. For now anyway.

It comes down to a simple matter of not having enough experience yet. I just don't have the skills needed to properly work on a jacket like this.

I spent a fair amount of time this past week, and pretty much the entire weekend working - patiently btw - and overcame a number of obstacles. But it wasn't enough.

First there was the infamous bias tape. Experiment #3 worked out quite well though. Using a mock flat-felled seam instead of bias tape was definitely a winner.

After figuring out how to do the seams, the rest of the reverse side went together just fine.

Then I went to work on attaching the front and hem bands to the reverse side. Hit a tempory snag in that the bands are also supposed to get the bias tape treatment. I figured out a way to get around that, and so moved forward.

Once the front and hem bands were put on, it was time to attach the front piece to the reverse piece. It all went together easily enough, but the reverse side fabric stretched out on me a bit during construction, so it hung rather loosely.

The area around the armscye was definitely going to give me difficulty. But, since I was planning on using a much more firm fabric for the reverse side, I figured this wouldn't be too much of an obstacle with the real thing.

Next it was time to attach the collar. Here is were I met my final match. I followed the instructions as best I could and well, I don't think I quite got the idea and the results showed it. The main problem were the bits at the end. The front and the collar were supposed to come together somehow so that raw edges didn't show (naturally) and I just could not get it to work.

That was pretty much the last straw. That and the fact that when I tried it on, the armscyes were definitely going to be too small. I expected the sleeves to be somewhat snug because they were in the pin fit, but I didn't expect to have problems with the armscyes.

So, enough is enough. It's time to take a few steps back and move forward at a slower pace. I'm planning on working on a couple of knit tops next. I think those will be "easy wins".

After that, I'll start thinking about how I can take smaller steps to get to the level I need to be at to tackle a project like this.

Experiments 1 & 2

2007-03-14T19:52:00.000-05:00

Well, experiments 1 and 2 for Vogue 8332 are a no go. But I started on experiment #3 and it holds some promise.

Experiment #1: Make and use bias strips from the "real" fabric.

At first this seemed to be going well. The "real" fabric is more firm than the fabric I'm using for the muslin, so the tape making part of the exercise went fairly well. However, it is also thicker, and therefore bulkier. That snagged me up. I could not get the tape to fold properly over the seam. So at the very least, I'm ditching the idea of using the bias tape.

Experiment #2: Keeping the seam allowances to the outside and fraying them.

I've seen this work before, so I played with it a bit on one seam. But the look just wasn't right so I've abandoned that idea too.

Experiment #3 will be using a mock flat-felled seam. I've got it started and will hopefully be able to finish it up tomorrow evening.

Addendum to yesterday's post on Vogue 8332

2007-03-13T13:21:00.000-05:00

Now that I've slept on my thoughts around discontinuing Vogue 8332, I've added some possible things to try that might make it better. Most notably, I want to investigate using other seam finishing methods, like the flat-felled or mock flat-felled, and see if those would be easier to work with than the bias binding.

I think I would be OK with either of those. I'm not wed to the use of the bias binding - only to the general look of having the seam finshing on the outside instead of the inside.

This is a completely crazy and possibly stupid thought, but what if instead of finishing the seams, I leave them unfinshed and fray them completely? It's worth trying as an experiment anyway. Heck, what are muslins for if we can't experiment on them! :)

To Vogue 8332 or not to Vogue 8332...

2007-03-12T21:52:00.000-05:00

I worked on my Vogue 8332 jacket more this weekend, and I'm beginning to have serious doubts about this project.

Where to begin with my woes?

I have a really pretty brocade (pic was in an earlier post) that I want to use for the reverse side of this jacket. That brocade IS the reason I picked this pattern out. I really liked the notion of matching up the brocade with the bias bound seams to get something beyond the ordinary.

However, my muslin is telling me that I should rethink my choices. The fabric that I'm using for the reverse side muslin is a fairly thin and slippery brocade. It ravels fairly easily, but most especially where the brocade pattern forms. This fabric caused some problems during the bias tape making effort. The brocade pattern areas stretched out badly in some cases, making the tape thinner than I need it to be.

Match the uneven bias tape up with my not-so-perfect sewing lines AND the fact that there is topstitching visable, and you have a mess in the making. I didn't realize, btw, that there was topstitching until I actually started on the reverse side of the muslin. That would be my inexperience showing. Someone with more experience would probably have taken one look at it and known that some stitching would be visible.

In the meantime, I've got some other projects screaming to be done in time to wear during the spring and summer.

So what is my plan?

I'm going to "sacrifice" some of my pretty brocade to some experimentation.

I'm going to make a few test strips to see how the brocade will handle when using it for bias tape.

If the "real" fabric works better than my muslin fabric, I'll keep moving forward. I think I can get around the topstitching concern by using clear thread. I don't really want the topstitching to show anyway as I think it would detract from the look of the jacket in this case.

If it's even close to as bad as my muslin fabric to work with though, I'm going to ditch this project and move on. As much as I don't like having a big stash, and as much as I don't really want to just give up, this fabric should not be wasted on something I can't do right.

Sigh...

In the meantime, I purchased this loverly fabric from EmmaOneSock. I've not worked with knit fabric yet. But I've heard it's not too difficult, and I've picked a very simple pattern to start with.

Should my jacket project go south, I'm hoping a nice knit blouse will give me an easy win. At this point, I think I may need one.

I'm such a geek...

2007-03-07T06:09:00.000-05:00

I'm such a geek. I woke up somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I didn't want to wake the house up with the sounds of sewing, so I hit the computer.

As I was sitting here, I started thinking about all the sewing projects I want to do in the next few months. And what did I do? I whipped out my handy-dandy MS Project and started scheduling out what I want to do when.

Actually, I think this may turn out to be helpful. I pay attention and get things done much more quickly if I have a plan written down and have deadlines (even if they are only self-imposed deadlines). And having everything down in MS Project will let me see how inserted and removed projects effect my overall timeline.

Gah... sometimes I kill me.

Vogue 8332 - Slow going

2007-03-02T12:19:00.000-05:00

I've made virutally no progress this week on my Vogue jacket. I'm to the point on the muslin where I need to press out miles and miles of bias binding, and I haven't much felt like tackling it. I think I have maybe 1/2 a yard done.

I did go to Joann's Monday after work to buy a bias tape maker. I tried it out Monday evening and I gotta say I didn't like it too well. The tape maker didn't seem to hold the fabric tight enough so I was having a good bit of trouble keeping the sides folded over. I even had the tip of the iron right up against the edge of the tape maker and it didn't really help.

I did find a tip on PatternReview that I want to try out this weekend. I sure hope it works out. I'll post my results :)

I've got to get a move on this project. I've been hankering to try my hand at making some things with knit fabrics, but I refuse to leave this project hanging out as a UFO.

Vogue 8332 - Progress is being made

2007-02-26T11:36:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo! I got to spend some time this weekend working on my current project - Vogue 8332.

I spent a fair amount of time on Saturday cutting all the bias strips out. I started pressing those, but realized part way through that it was going to take forever and not look particularly nice unless I used one of those bias tape makers.

I hunted some up online, and unfortunately, the shipping to get one would cost more than the tool itself. So I set the bias strips aside to wait on a quick trip to Joann's some evening this week.

In the meantime, I spent my sewing time on Sunday piecing side 1 of the jacket together. I've got everything put together except for the pockets and the sleeves. The sleeves though are one of the last things to be done - after sewing up side 2.

Side 2 will be interesting as that's the side that is sewn up with the seams facing outward and then bound with the bias tape.

Paperclips

2007-02-15T15:43:00.000-05:00

One of the things I'm trying to work out for my current project is how to cut and mark fabric without using pins.

I have a couple reasons for this. First, some fabrics just don't take pinning well, and I want to learn a method for handling those.

Second, I want to keep my patterns in good shape and multiple pinnings do take their toll.

I've gone back and forth with using pins, using weights, and using a combination of the two.

Part of challenge is my cutting method and mat. I don't cut very well with scissors. I'm just not very good at it. I much prefer using a rotary cutter. I'm able to control that better and end up with much nicer lines. So, I use a self healing mat along with my rotary cutter to cut fabric.

The problem is that my mat is fairly small - usually smaller than the pieces I'm cutting. So I have to move the mat as I'm cutting. Pins handle this fairly well. Weights are trickier. On my initial attempts, the fabric would slip around at bit as I was moving things around if I did not put in at least a few pins to anchor things down.

I recently read a thread somewhere on PatternReview about using clips to anchor fabric instead of pins. I wish I could find the thread again, but I can't. But it did get me to thinking and I decided to try to use a combination of paperclips and weights to see if that would work.

First, I set the pattern down on the fabric and held it there with weights:

In case you're wondering, those are pieces of petrified wood that I'm using as weights.

Then, I cut along the bottom and sides as far as my mat let me. After that, I carefully papercliped the fabric and the pattern edges together. Then I slid my mat over and finished the rest of the cutting for that piece.

The fabric still slid up a bit as I moved the mat, but with the paper clips there, I was able to smooth it back out again. BTW, I tried this with fairly slippery fabric.

How did it turn out? There was at least one problem; the end points of the paper clips would sometimes catch on the fabric if I wasn't careful in removing them. It also seems like the fabric moved around too much in general.

The more things I try in my efforts to make cutting and marking more precise, the more I think that the ultimate solution will be to get a larger mat! But this little technique may tide me over for a while.

Thanks for a good man

2007-02-13T18:50:00.000-05:00

Sewing has become my sanity. I do a lot of project management at work. Projects that rely on different people in different groups to do what they need to do so that I can do what I need to do. And while this is very challenging in a good way, it can also be very, very frustrating.

Sewing is an activity that lets me create nice things for myself and for my loved ones, challenges me creatively, AND lets me work on projects where I get to rely soley on me. I plan my projects from beginning to end and I do all the work. Everything that goes right is my achievement, and everything that goes wrong is my fault. And, as I've mentioned before, the tasks are various enough that I'm not having to do the same things all the time.

So where does the good man come in?

He comes in like superman just when he's needed.

I didn't get to do any sewing yesterday. With this, that and the other, the evening got by me and before I knew it, it was past time for bed. I was very disappointed because if I had worked things a bit differently, I would have had at least a few minutes to unwind with a little fabric cutting.

I've also had a trying few months at work, and getting to do just that little bit of sewing during the week is better than a shot of whiskey for unwinding - and probably a little better for me too ;)

I wasn't going to get to do any sewing this evening either because I was to take the kids to their monthly 4H meeting. DH does most of the homeschooling, but he needs a break now and again, so the 4H gig is mine.

I really didn't want to go this evening though and I whined a little this afternoon. Not a lot, just "gosh I don't feel like going".

Then out of the blue he pipes up and says "I'll take them".

I was SO relieved. It was like a weight off my chest. I hadn't realized just how uptight I was about having to go until he said he would go for me. I was feeling a just a little Sally Fieldish (He loves me! He really loves me!)

So adieu my friends for a while. I've got a date with a newly arrived original "Star Trek" series disk (gotta love Netflix), some fabric, my iron, my pattern and my rotary cutter. It's going to be a relaxing evening.

And thank you, thank you my lovely DH! You are worth your weight in gold and jewels.

Vogue 8332 - Progress Made So Far

2007-02-11T15:15:00.000-05:00

So far, I've traced out all the pattern pieces.

I currently trace patterns using a not-so-handy window, and butcher paper. Eventually, I would like to try something that doesn't require the window. It's very hard on my back and neck, and of course, I can only trace pieces when there's light outside.

For this pattern, I made my standard alterations. I started with a size 18, then widened the sleeves in the bicep area, and widened the waist and hip areas.

I've also cut out the main fabric side pieces of the muslin, as well as the 1st contrast pieces and applied the interfacing to those.

I tried something new with the interfacing for this project. Previously, I had followed the pattern instructions and cut the interfacing using the pattern pieces, then applied the interfacing to the fabric.

As you can see from the pictures, this time I applied the interfacing to the cut fabric pieces, then trimmed the excess. I think this way is going to be easier for me most of the time. The only thing I need to be careful of is that the edges of the interfacing stick to either my presscloth, or the ironing board cover. Overall though, this really worked out for me.

My muslin fabric for this side is a cheap plaid flannel I picked up off the $1 table at Walmart.

Lastly I've done a first pin fitting.

The pins make the seams look a little puckered, but the fit feels good overall. I fit the sleeve pieces separately and I think I may have some trouble with those. The upper sleeve felt a bit tight when I bent my elbow and may need to be widened a bit more. I don't think I'll make the final decision on that though until I've sewn this first muslin up.

Right now I'm cutting the pieces for the reverse (contrast #2) side. For this side, I'm using a lightweight jacquard I picked up off ebay.

As soon as I get the reverse side cut out, I'll sew everything up and see how it turns out. If everything goes well, I may move directly into the real thing. If not, I'll assess what needs help and do a 2nd muslin.

Vogue 8332 - Divine Details Jacket

2007-02-11T14:13:00.000-05:00

This is what I'm currently working on:

I'm nowhere near finished with it though. I'm still working on muslin #1.

My inspiration for this jacket was some very pretty paisley brocade I picked up off ebay back in the late summer.

The fabric has an "Asian" flavor to it, but I didn't want to do a standard Asian-style top or jacket. I read a good article in Threads magazine about using different kinds of fabrics for "jean" jackets and went hunting for something like that.

My goal was and is to end up with a jacket that could dress both up and down. I hunted all over finally found this pattern.

True, it's not a "jean" jacket, but it appealed to me because I thought I could do one side in denim, and the other in the brocade. I've since changed my mind about that. As time moved on, I started to doubt the wisdom of mixing the denim and brocade with this pattern.

Why? The brocade is medium weight to begin with and fairly thick. The denim is also medium weight. The pattern calls for lighter weight fabrics. It seemed like the thing might be too bulky. I mulled this over for a bit, and was brought to a solid decision to change things around by a review of this pattern over at PatternReview.

I do plan on keeping the brocade for the contrast side. But for the fabric side, I'm going to switch to something much more lightweight. I think I can get that to work out. We'll see.

And what to do with the 20 yrds of denim I had already purchased (through ebay of course - got a good price on it)? I think with that I would like to make a real jean jacket, and maybe use some of the left over paisley, or some other nice fabric, to mix in with it. There are a few different patterns I have my eye on for this.

Simplicity 5562 - Drawstring Pants - 1st Project - Completed July 2006

2007-01-28T14:39:00.000-05:00

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Before I took up sewing in July 2006, the only garment I had ever made was a pair of elastic-waist crop pants that I made when I was in my early teens.

So for my first project, I went for crop pants again, using Simplicity pattern #5562. I made View C.

This was one of several patterns that I found by going through Simplicity's online catalog. I really like being able to search for patterns that way, versus having to go to a fabric store and troll through the paper catalogs.

One thing you get with the Simplicity site is a very nice "Design" view of the pattern. With it, you can see the front design picture, line drawings of the front and back, and a view of the back of the envelope. For the last, you will need the Adobe Reader installed on your computer.

With that information, I was able to get an idea of the size I would need, and the amount of fabric I would need.

Lesson #1 - Don't let the pattern sizes throw you!!!!

I had a rough idea of my measurements when I started and OMG!!!! According to those, I needed to get a size 20!!!! I figured "Holy Smokes! That can't be right!".

Well my friends, it is right - well mostly right anyway. There is a standard sizing method that all the major pattern makers (and most of the independents too) use to size their patterns. The result is that the size you need to get in a pattern rarely matches what you normally get in a RTW (Ready-To-Wear) garment.

Sometimes the size you need will be smaller. Most of the time though, I think people find their pattern size is larger than their RTW size (mostly because of RTW "vanity" sizing). The best advice I've heard for this is to buy the size you need. You're making the garment yourself - no one need ever know what size you used to get there.

I ended up going with a size that was closer to my RTW size (size 16). As it turned out, it was the right size to get, but for the wrong reasons. I didn't learn about why until after this project was done though.

I picked my initial set of patterns up at WalMart. While I was there, I picked out some fabric for the project. My DMIL had made my DD a cute little circle skirt out of a fabric with a butterfly print. There were two variations of that fabric available and I purchased some with a blue background (my DD's has a black background).

Oh yeah, and I picked up my sewing machine too while I was there. :)

Lesson #2a - Read the instructions...

With this first project, my goal was get through the basics. So I read the instructions beforehand very thoroughly and followed them very closely during construction. The only thing I changed was the pockets.

Lesson #2b - but feel free to deviate as needed or desired

I wanted the leg finishing on View C, but not the cargo style pockets. The pockets I wanted were in View D. It looked like a simple enough change to make and it indeed turned out to be relatively simple. When doing this sort of thing, you want to be sure to notate the changes, or mark them directly on your pattern instructions. That way you don't get lost in the middle of construction.

With one slight exception, this pattern turned out to be a great beginning pattern to work with. I knew a little about sewing before I started, and the instructions were pretty complete and complimented what knowledge I had very well. The pants are fairly loose and the pattern seems to forgive slight mistakes easily. So this is definitely a pattern to try out early on in your sewing adventure.

Lesson #3 - However, pattern instructions are not always perfect.

About the one problem I had. I did not understand the instructions for putting the back pocket together. I ended up with something that looked wrong to me. Instead of the pocket top having a nice fold, I ended up with a "mini-pocket" inside the main pocket. I have yet to figure out if the problem is with the instructions, or with me.

So, you might be asking, how did they turn out? I thought the pants themselves turned out well, especially for a first attempt.

However, as you can see from the picture, they don't fit as well as they could. The pattern says that the waistline falls 1 inch below the natural waistline. As my body proportions are not "average" the waist is lower on me. I also have a bubble-butt, so the waist in the back tends to pull down quite a lot when I sit down. Lastly, the leg bottoms came out a little wide for my taste.

Let's just say that making these pointed out to me very quickly that I was going to need to do more than just follow patterns out of envelope.

Overall though, I really enjoyed the experience. I found I that really like that sewing projects have multiple steps with tasks that are sufficiently different to keep the whole thing interesting. I have other craft hobbies, such as crocheting and knitting, but I tend to pick those projects up and put them down over the course of years because much of the work is really repetitive.

I can certainly say that this project was enough to put me fully on the path of becoming a sewing junkie!

Don't Wait for Perfection...

2007-01-24T13:44:00.000-05:00

My last post on "Thinking Outside the Box" immediately triggered another thought that has been wending it's way through my head the last couple of days.

So here it is, not well thought out, but down on paper, as it were.

Don't wait for perfection.

As a beginning sewist, I find myself struggling with perfectionism. I don't want to start a project until I know I can finish it successfully. I want to know at the beginning that everything is just right, even before I start a muslin.

But I'm not "good" at sewing yet. Sewing, like all skills, has to be practiced. Not only that, but sometimes, the mistakes you make become the best learning opportunities you will ever get. Lastly, when we make mistakes in sewing, as with so many other things, we get the chance to exercise our creativity by figuring out how to turn that loss into a win.

Just something to think about.

Thinking "Outside the Box"

2007-01-24T13:35:00.000-05:00

I spent a portion of my lunch hour today over at PatternReview perusing their "Tips and Techniques" section. I found a tip that I really liked and then realized that I had thought about doing the same sort of thing myself.

Then I realized, I didn't do it because I thought there might be a reason why I shouldn't. It was "against the rules".

Now I break sewing "rules" all the time. Most are just guidelines anyway - and there are no sewing police that are going to hunt you down when you don't follow them.

But for whatever reason, I went conformist on this particular item.

"Thinking Outside the Box" is one of those buzzwordy phrases that get way overused. But in this case, it's appropriate.

When it comes to sewing, it's perfectly OK, even proper, to think "Outside the Box". I just bet you'll get some of your best ideas that way. :)

Let's go backpacking!!!! AGAIN!!!!!!

2007-01-19T13:23:00.000-05:00

When last we met, I had just completed making some camping gear for the family.

Well, we went on our short backpacking trip last weekend. It was not a bad trip, but I'm a little done in for a while. My DH, however, is not. He's raring to go again already, and has another trip planned for this weekend. My DD and I are taking a pass, but my DS wants to go with Dad.

So, sometime Wednesday evening, DH pipes up and says, "Our son needs a warm hat for this weekend, it's supposed to get chilly. Do you know where DD's green knit hat is?". Actually, the green hat is crocheted, not knitted, but how's DH to know? I told him I didn't know where it was. The conversation continued and I ended up with another item on my sewing to-do list.

Luckily, it was a very small item and only took a couple of evenings to get made up. It's the hat from the same McCall's pattern (4234) I used to make the kids' fleece camp pants. It turned out to be really quick and easy - and fairly cute.

Lessons Learned: The use of kids' washable markers on fleece fabric for making pattern marks is not really recommended.

I tried out one of the kid's washable markers to mark the fleece with. I don't think I'll do that again. Although the marks stayed better than chalk marks, the ink rubbed off all over my fingers as I was working with the fabric. That, and now we have to wash the hat to get the marks off, rather than brushing the chalk marks off. Ah well - can't know if something will work until you try it!!!

When DH and DD saw DS wearing his, they said they wanted one too. "NOT UNTIL I GET TO WORK MORE ON MY JACKET!!!!", says I. ;)

Let's go backpacking!

2007-01-16T20:25:00.000-05:00

Am I ever going to get back to my regularly scheduled program? Am I ever going to get to finish talking about the projects and techniques I've learned so far? Sometimes it seems like I'm never going to get there. But SOOOO much has been happening since, oh, about Thanksgiving...

Right after Thanksgiving, I switched from the project I was working on (a jacket) to making Snuglets as gifts for Christmas. As soon as that was done, I started working on the list that my DH made for me.

A while back, he requested that I make some camping gear for the kids and us - some "camp" pants (fleece pants to shlump around camp in), some hiking pants, and fleece liners for our sleeping bags. And he wanted at least some of it in time for a weekend backpacking trip planned for this past weekend. Whew - what a tall order!

I did get a serger for Christmas, so I was able to complete some of the items on list. Yay me! But there was no way I could get all of it done.

I did finish two pairs of fleece pants, one each for my DD and DS. I used McCall's 4234 (view E) for those. The pattern was very straight forward and very easy to use. They took me a day each to finish, including tracing the patterns and making some size alterations. I definitely recommend this as a beginning pattern if you want a nice, easy pair of sweatpants-style pants for the young'uns.

I also made 4 fleece sleeping bag liners . DH and I thought that a plain liner with no zipper would work, but on trying it out we decided pretty quickly that a zipper would be required. I ordered zippers and got them about a week before the trip.

Then I got to go figure out how to insert one. It turned out not to be too difficult - although the finishing isn't particularly nice. But these aren't "fashion" liners - they are not really going to be seen by anyone.

I finished up the last two the night before the trip, with the help of my DMIL and her now working serger (that's another story). She sewed the zippers in with her regular sewing machine and I finished the rest of the liners with her serger.

As it turned out, I need not have tried so hard. We only took two liners, mine and DS'. DH figured it would be too warm for them, but DS' sleeping bag isn't rated for cold weather, and I HATE being cold. Well, he was right - it stayed fairly warm. My liner stayed in my backpack. DS used his liner, but on top of his sleeping bag, like an extra blanket. DS did use his fleece pants that night, but DD had a little accident with hers while trying to use the accomodations (a lovely spot behind some bushes and a tree). (It's no fair, guys have it so easy).

I still have lots on his list to get through, but my list is getting pretty long at this point too. I think I'll get back to work on that jacket ...

Technique - Double Folded AND Mitered Corners

2007-01-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!!

As promised in the previous post, here are instructions for how to get edges to be both double folded AND mitered in the corners. It may not seem like much, but it took me a few tries to get it right, so I thought I'd share...

First, cut the corners off the edges of the fabric. In my case, about 5 inches on each side.

Second, fold the corners together, with the right side of the fabric together and sew about half way down the corner edge line. That's down to where the pin is in the picture. I used a 1/4" seam allowance.

Third, push the corner out so that the edges fold to the wrong side. You can see from the picture that the partially mitered corner gives you the first roll.

Next, fold half of the edge down to give you your second fold and pin it down.

Finally, sew the folded edges down from the wrong side.

I figured this method out through trial and error. The result is that I arrived at how much of the corner to cut in a rather haphazard manner.

Although I don't have time to test it, I think you could determine how much of the corner to take off if you first fold one edge up where you want it to be and mark where it falls on the adjacent edge. Unfold the first edge, then mark it by the same amount. Then, fold the two edges right sides together, making sure that the marks meet.

Happy sewing!!!

Interlude #2 - The Snuglet Adventure Continues...

2006-12-25T17:17:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Boy! Keeping up with timely posts is harder than I thought!!

I've now made a total of 8 snuglets. Along the way, I experimented with different ways to get the corners done so that they 1) look nice and 2) aren't terribly thick to sew through.

I think I finally have it, although it took me a few tries to get there.

Here's a rundown of the progression:

Snuglet #2: At first I tried a mitering technique that's in the Reader's Digest New Complete Guide to Sewing. The mitering part worked just fine. However, their technique, as written, didn't allow me to double fold the edges - they were folded once only. Since I had gotten in my head that I wanted the raw edges bound, this wasn't going to work. (And I'll be the first to admit that I'm probably being overly picky about the whole raw edge thing).

The corners on this one ended up being sort of mitered because I had to cut the one of the corners to do the experiment. I cut each of the corners, then folded the edges twice. The result was that the corners fit nicely, but with a bit of a gap in the corner where one fold met the other fold. This as opposed to the nicely sewn corner that the original mitering technique would have given. To fix this, I stitched the two edges together and in such a way that it showed on the right side.

Here's the corner as seen from the wrong side:

Here's the corner as seen from the right side:

All in all, not perfect, but doable.

Snuglet #3: With this one, I set aside the mitering idea and played with cutting out some of the corner so that they could be folded without overlapping in the corners. This idea mostly worked. However, it also had a gap in the corner area that had to be sewn up.

Snuglet #4: I went back to the mitering idea but this time, tried to come up with a way where I could get the mitered corner sewn nicely AND get the edges double folded. And HEY! I figured it out! In short, the way to do it is to partially sew up the corner, then leave the rest to be folded under.

Whew!!!

Interlude #1 - The "Snuglet"

2006-11-26T16:08:00.000-05:00

I would really like to get my blog up-to-date with projects I've already done, but in the meantime, I continue to work on other projects... and so get farther behind on my blogging.

And so we have interlude #1...

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the Christmas season, aka FRENZY, is upon us. I frequently have a tough time thinking of things to get anyone but my own immediate family, but this year, I think I have the answer.

It's called a "Snuglet" (or Slanket) and it's a blanket with sleeves. I got the idea from a review on http://www.patternreview.com/ . You can see the review here: Snuglet Review. The review includes a link to some very good instructions on how to make a Snuglet.

I liked the idea so much (after all WHO could object to getting a warm snuggly blanket for Christmas?), that for the first time in my life, I made it a point to go to an after Thanksgiving sale. Not on Black Friday... OH NO! Well, I would have gone then, but the fabric I wanted was not on sale on Friday, it was on sale Saturday.

I went hiking with the family on Friday instead. A much more pleasant pastime for me than fighting the shopping crowds. We took a couple of nephews and a niece, along with our two munchkins to a place called Leon Sinks for a 5 mile walk.

On Saturday morning, I got up bright and early, grabbed the younger of my munchkins and went on a fleece fabric mission to Joann's. Altogether, I purchased 28 yards of fleece with various patterns, so I'm glad I went while it was on sale!

After I got home, I spent the afternoon washing all that fleece. (As I understand it, material made of polyester doesn't need to be pre-shrunk. But, I didn't like the "store" smell of the fabric, so I washed it all).

I also started on my first practice snuglet. It looked like an easy enough project to do, and so it was. I finished up the first one this afteroon. Doesn't it look snuggly???

It probably took a total of an an hour-and-a-half to two hours to complete. I'll probably be able to cut it down to an hour or so now that I've got the process down.

I folded the edges twice to bind the edges which made for very, very thick corners. I think I will experiment on the next one to see if I can reduce the bulk by mitering the corners.

Gotta get back to it, I have about 6 more of these to make before Christmas!!!

The Adventure Begins - Part 2

2006-11-10T19:33:00.000-05:00

When I bought my sewing machine, I also bought some fabric, thread, notions, and a few patterns. I had gone hunting on the web for patterns and knew already what I wanted to start with.

I started with these patterns:

Misses Top: http://www.simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=8523
Drawstring Pants: http://www.simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=5562
Misses Lined and Unlined Jackets: http://www.simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=4280
Another Misses Jacket: http://www.mccallpattern.com/item/M5107.htm

By the time I bought my sewing machine, I had already purchased The Reader's Digest New Complete Guide to Sewing, and had started reading through it. I had also found a FANTASTIC source for information; a web site called PatternReview.com. The Guide to Sewing is a pretty good book for someone new to sewing. I have referred back to it a number of times along the way.

The website though is marvelous. The name may be PatternReview, but there's much more there than just pattern reviews. The site members review books, websites, notions, stores, sewing machines, sergers, etc. They also have a message board, a searchable knowledge base, a place to request reviews, a place to save patterns you have, a wishlist for patterns you want, etc. (Note that some of their services are provided for a fee. It's less than $30 a year. Access to something like 6 months or a year's worth of pattern reviews is free.)

Since I've found this website, I've visited it almost everyday. And I've posted reviews of some of my projects. Reading about what other people have tried has been a great source of information and inspiration. I get to see everything from the most advanced sewing, to a little 9-year-old's beginning efforts.

So anyway, with my materials and sources of info in hand, I went to work. And the first try was not so bad...

But more on that the next time.

The Adventure Begins - Part 1

2006-11-05T12:28:00.000-05:00

So, you might be asking yourself, why would a 38 year old woman take up sewing as a hobby, and garment sewing at that? OK, maybe you wouldn't be asking yourself that, but I'm gonna tell you anyway.

I've always enjoyed doing "crafty things". When I was about 5, I made potholders with a potholder loom and sold them around the neighborhood. Over the years, I've done needlepoint, crochet (regular and thread), knitting, that kind of thing. But I tend to rotate through them, and can never seem to finish any one project very quickly. Most of my medium to large projects have taken me years to complete. In fact, I have a few ones still outstanding.

In that time, I've done very, very little sewing. It's kind of odd really; my grandmother sewed. My mom did some sewing too, AND she fixed sewing machines at Sears. So, while I did learn how to work a sewing machine and even got far enough with sewing to make a pair of crop pants when I was 13 or 14, it never really took.

I think part of the reason was that I was intimidated by it. I thought it would be difficult to learn, and then there's the start up cost. A crochet hook and a skein of yarn costs maybe $5. But even an inexpensive sewing machine costs $100+.

A while back though, we started having dinner every other week at my in-laws. My DMIL is the SWEETEST woman in the world and knows ALL of the nearly forgotten home skills; she still makes biscuits from scratch, she cans her own veggies, and she still sews.

Our bi-weekly visits turned into a great excuse to work on different projects. The first project we worked on was a patch-work blanket for my son (she's ALWAYS, ALWAYS working on something or another for the grandkids). We did one side in denim squares with embroidery on some of them, and the other in squares using a space theme (OK, the two sides don't exactly match - but it's a great blanket for all that!). With her to help push me along, we got that done in pretty good time.

In the middle of that project, she made a circle skirt and a gypsy costume for my daughter.

Between helping her out with my son's blanket, and watching how she did my daughter's outfits, I got bitten by the bug. And as she is quite the sweetest woman in the world, she readily agreed to help me learn how to sew clothes.

So, I investigated sewing machines online, and patterns too. I picked what I wanted, and on July 4th, 2006, I went to WalMart and bought my first sewing machine. It's a Brother C6000i - nothing real fancy, but it's been a great starter machine so far. At the same time, I bought a few different patterns, and some material to get started with.

Then, I started sewing... whew!!! I think I'll save that for Part 2!

Welcome to my blog!

2006-11-02T13:48:00.000-05:00

It seems everyone has a blog these days . I didn't really intend to start a blog - I've never been one for doing a lot of journaling. But, along came a new hobby and I changed my mind.

My new hobby is sewing - garment sewing that is. And I'm enjoying the heck out of it. For my first few projects, I've kept notes in a little notebook - what alterations I've made, what size I used, a little swatch of fabric - that kind of thing.

But now I'm starting on a project that promises to have many stages and will take a couple of months at least to complete. I found I wanted something more techie than a notebook (I do like my tech after all), and one where I could more easily share my thoughts, accomplishments and frustrations, AND pictures of the process and final product.

My goal is simply one of sharing the adventure. It ain't mountain climbing! But it does have its opportunities to explore and challenges to overcome.

So here it is - Janimé's Sewing Adventures. If you find it remotely interesting, Cool! If not, well that's OK too.