Intimidating Inspiration

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

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...

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

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

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

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...

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...

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!

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

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 :-)