HO HO HO

I've been on the hunt for a new Christmas tree skirt for years. First I had one my mother didn't like. Then a friend was selling some a friend of hers made, and I bought one and always hated the blue childish aprony looking thing. So a few years ago we sent my son to buy a new one and he got another blue one but with ugly winter scenes appliqued on it. I looked here and there right after Christmas a few times but really just didn't care much on January 3, if you know what I mean. But this year, inspired by the Santa hat as the tree topper and, oddly, a cheap dishtowel, I set out to correct this sad state of affairs. So, without further ado, I give you the Santa suit tree skirt: Up closer you can appreciate the fine detailing that went into this creation. The base is red felt, I thought about fleece but realized I didn't want the drapeyness. Fur trim is a trim on a roll from JA's and the belt is a homedec pleather. Buttons and belt buckle are also from JA's, the buckle from the jewelry section (apparently somehow matched with feather boas. Who knew?). It took a bit longer to put together than I'd anticipated, primarily due to not being able to find a hole punch for the belt and having to wait for Staples to open. Can you see my eyes rolling? This was actually a blast to make, the felt and pleather were so easy to sew. I used my walking foot for most of the project - it did wonderfully. The fur trim came attached to a bias edge so it went on smoothly, I used the walking foot and a double needle. Buttonholes are just cut into the fur, no real buttonholing required as this stuff doesn't fray and they'll only be used a couple of times a year. Oh, and I got to use some circle math. How cool was all that?

In other news, we've lived here about a year and half and in that time we've spent a number of weekend mornings being chased around the room by morning sunbeams. It's really blinding in our den most of the day, there are windows facing 3 directions so it gets sun pretty much all day long. I finally did something about this and contacted a local blind company. Late Friday evening they came and installed 8 sets of plantation blinds in my den and stair landings. The reason for this long harangue? Just to show you a gratuitous picture of Christmas Village. That is all.

HP for Free

A few months ago HP offered a free tee shirt pattern. All you had to do was download it, print and sew. It's quite a nice pattern but when I made it up I just didn't love it. It felt a bit big, frumpy and the tie bugged me. I tried it different ways and wore a few times and then left it on my ironing board for weeks. Today, I finally pulled it back out and made a few changes. What do you think? I like it much better now. I took in the sides by a full seam allowance up to the armholes - so over two inches. And I changed the neckline by simply stufing the tie inside, draping so I liked it, top stitching it in place and whacking off the excess inside. So the inside's a mess but I'm quite liking the oustide. Much better for me. The fabric's a lightweight knit from G Street's WALL.

Success!

After a couple of attempts last week using a Simplicity and a New Look pattern that gave me results that just hung off my shoulders, I went a different direction this weekend. I pulled out Vogue 1247 for a quick skirt. I'm going to New York for a quick weekend with my husband next Friday and wanted something cool but not so casual as shorts. This seemed to fit the bill. I used a 100% cotton from G Street that reminds me of that old stable, kettle cloth. Remember that fabric? I used to love it. But anyway, I found this 1.5 yard remnant a couple of months ago and immediately thought "summer skirt". And I realized yesterday that it wanted to be this Vogue pattern. I added about 7 inches to the bottom, as I'm no longer 17 and skinny. I needed a zipper for this (I realized how little red I sew when I looked for a zipper) and found this CUTE button for the back. I thought about using these (I have 2) on the pockets but decided not to when it came time to do the button holes. It just didn't feel right for the skirt. But I think it's quite nice on the back waistband. If you haven't looked at this pattern, you should. It goes together nicely, has those bitchin' front pockets and only takes about 1.5 yards of fabric after making it long enough for a real human. A bit of head scratching for a minute to figure out how to put the front together to make the pockets, but after that it went FAST. I didn't do the hong-kong finish in the interest of time and patience, but I did serge all the insides except around the pockets - sergers and curves don't mix. I just did a machine overcast there. Of course my Viking wouldn't do the buttonhole. It did the sample beautifully and then wouldn't feed the fabric for the real one. So after unpicking that mess I hauled out my Singer buttonholer and made it on my 201. THANK YOU SINGER, you RULE! One try and done.

You can also see the wonky stitches my serger started doing again. WHY? It was fine and then it wasn't. This was a test scrap for both serging and buttonholes. Buttonholes went better than serging.

In other news... my son and I went to the early-bird showing of the final Harry Potter this morning. It finally happened - I spent more on the food than on the show, the first showing in each of the theatres is only $6 and the popcorn, etc. was $19. Erg! But the movie was great - all the HP's have been. We didn't see the 3D version, but kind of wishing we had. We may go back in a couple of weeks - after NYC.

Well, I'm off to finish some laundry and think about what to take with me next weekend. I'm taking the train up to Penn Station and husband will be taking the train down from Connecticut. I don't suspect I'll get in any time for fabric shopping this trip - just can't convince my husband that it's fun. Must keep working on that.

ETA: Kuby, if you're still around, I'm not sure if you're asking about the shirt I'm wearing in the picture or the one included with the pattern. I DID make the shirt I'm wearing - it's a Kwik-Sew tee-shirt pattern. No, I didn't make the top incuded in the pattern - I'm not a huge fan of the huge shirts. HTH.

Serging again

YEA! I picked my serger up from G Street on Wednesday after a doctor's appointment nearby (ish). They cleaned, oiled and adjusted (?) it. Didn't say what they adjusted but it seems to have turned the trick. And it's much smoother and quieter. It's around 5 years old, but saw very action in those years, so I didn't think it should need much oiling, etc., but it appears to have enjoyed its time at the spa. I finally finished the napkins I started about 3 months ago - took me about 5 minutes to serge - rolled hem - the rest of the fabric into everyday napkins to use with the table I runner I made and never showed you. (I KNOW, I promised you more pictures. I KNOW!). And then started looking around my room for more things to serge. I made 2 safety glasses cases (just pouches, really) for my husband, made a pillow case for my son to go with the quilt - that's all the UT fabric I had left after all that I bought! And a throw pillow for my son with some more of the scrap - a wonky patchwork on one side, I didn't want to keep tons of scraps around. The glasses cases are UT fabric, too. And did a tiny bit of hand stitching on a skirt I made months ago, too. Seriously, that thing sat there for 3 months for want of 10 minutes of hand sewing. I'm pathetic.
It's just too hot to do anything outside today. The past few days were BEA-U-TI-FUL! Sunny, warm and loooowww humidity - really, when does DC ever have 20% humidity? But typical summer is back today with highs in the 90's and humidity creeping back up. So we rented a carpet cleaner to get rid of the Kacy spots in the bedroom and then I SERGED and cleaned up the sewing room. Next weekend I hope to make a couple of T shirts or a knit dress - I have fabric piled up everywhere with idea in mind. We'll see what come out of the room next weekend - it's another 3 day-er for me.
I hope all my Canadian readers (do I have any of those?) had a nice Canada Day - didja get to see Wills and Kate? And that my fellow Americans (US, that is) are having a great Forth of July weekend. I think we need to watch "The Patriot" tonight.

Ha Ha, I'm back

Well, just a little. But back. For about a year I was unable to blog from my work computer. Whether I was at home on it or at work. I could read it and read others' blogs but couldn't update or post a comment, etc. Then, suddenly, and without warning I was able to access it all again. What changed? And why?? Who knows.
So for a fast update and to assure you all that I neither died nor joined the circus (though I am tempted after reading "Water for Elephants").
I'm working on a quilt for my son - a personal request with a personal design. I will show it off after I'm done, but it's much larger than I'm used to working with and the fabric has had to be shipped to me - and not all at once. So it's taking a bit of time.
I did finish my table runner and made some placemats to go with. I was in the process of making napkins, too, when my serger decided to stop making the chain. Many, many hours of rethreading later in all configuration still results in no chain. So I think it's going in for a check up this weekend. How fortuitous that G Street's having a sale..
What else....? Used my trusty Jalie Tshirt pattern to alter a top and a dress from Kohl's that were just shaped oddly for me. I'm wearing the dress today and it's much betterer. It wasn't the size or amount of fabric, but where that fabric was on me. They were both Dana Buchmann. Anyone else have issues with her stuff fitting weird? That reminds me, I need a new white knit non-Tshirt...
And a couple of failed attempts at using border print knits for skirts. They've just turned out poorly and I think I'm done with that particular experiment. Eh, fabric was about $3 for each. C'est la vie.
Took a trip up to the Cape Cod area in May. Weather up there was still chilly and we wore sweaters the entire time. A side trip to the mother ship of Fabricmart.com was fun. I've made up a couple of the fabrics already, though I didn't buy a whole lot. MUST CLEAN OUT STASH CLOSET!
And, in case this isn't enough excitement for one blog posting, I put up curtains last weekend. Decided if it's going to be another 100 degree every freakin' day summer I needed to block out some of the afternoon sun. I'm quite proud of myself. I hung the rods and the curtains and cut one panel into 2 for smaller windows (I used blanket binding to finish the edge - worked perfectly) and hung up the curtains. In all, for 5 windows. I get a gold star.
Sorry, no pictures to be had, for various reasons. (1) my pictures aren't on my work computer. (2) I don't seem able to match up my camera, download cord and computer all in one room at the same time. (3) I'm flat lazy - or pooped from all that curtain hanging (4) so far behind in posting pictures that I'm overwhelmed and don't know where to start.
But, it was nice talking to y'all again. We should do it again sometime.

Look out Expo, here we come!

I'm sitting at a hotel bar right now near the Seattle/Tacoma airport. Karent will be joining me in a bit and tomorrow morning we will hit the Puyallup Sewing Expo. I went to the one in Novi a couple of years and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. This will be Karen's first venture into such a venue. We both have classes scheduled for early tomorrow morning and I have worked lots of shopping time into my schedule. On the hunt, primarily, for trims and notions though if I find a nice piece of faux fur... Emma Seabrook had some in Novi that I'm still sad I didn't buy. But since my fabric closet is full I really don't want to add to it right now. (Yeah, I know, check back later to see how strong I was when faced with row after row after row after row after row after row....).

I got a few photo's uploaded last weekend, though I didn't have time to post. Now I have loads of free time since Seattle's weather has just turned typical (yes, that means it's raining right now oops, spoke too soon, now the sun is shining through the rain - there must be a rainbow somewhere!). So, without further ado (and I am a big ado-lover):

The brown slacks that have been pining away on my table after the big pocket adventure. Or, in other terms, proof that I CAN and DID to those dang pockets. And why they couldn't just be skipped (though Lord knows I would have at one point). A bit of wonkiness at the waist band, but not too bad. The buttonhole went in first time and that may be a first. And a peek inside. Though the wool is pretty lightweight and (I think) blended with silk, I wanted a less heavy waist band. SOOOO glad I did this or I wouldn't have had enough fabric to do the pockets (3 times). Plus I love a bit of bling inside. I still have more of this fabric, too. I made a nightie out of it last year.

And, I've kept this under wraps. But I have a new addition to the family. Well, the sewing family. Introducing...... Lizzy. When I was kid and in trouble my dad would call me "Lizzy" - so when I heard that yelled, I ran. Oddly, he also called me that on the few occasions it fell to him to wake me up in the mornings. But now that he's gone, I think Lizzy needs to come out of hiding. She came from JA's the last time dress forms were on sale. Free shipping. She's not the highest tech form you'll ever see but I think she'll work well for me for a while. And, high on my list, her waist length was able to adjust enough for me.

Ok, I suppose I've rambled on enough for a while now. Even the dog is bored.

No, wait, she usually looks like this when I sew.

Done, done and done

I did indeed finish my pants and if I could find the camera cable I could prove it to you. They turned out quite nicely - but for a bit of wonkiness at the waistband. Even the buttonhole went in first time. Cool beans. They are even hemmed and hanging in my closet.
I started a quick tee-shirt, but I'm not liking one of the sleeves and I don't have enough fabric to re-cut it. It may turn out to be a sleeveless shell. Nothing wrong with that, really.
But I stopped to stir my stew for dinner and bake some brownies.
Next up, inspired by pegsewer, I want to make a slip. I'm seriously still wearing some from highschool. As I'm now in my 50's, that's quite a run for some lin gerie. But it may be time to update some. I have some nice tricot and lin gerie elastic. So all I really need is about 1/2 hour of free time and the right color thread in the serger.
And my camera cable. Really, any ideas?

Pockets, ugh, pockets

Sorry, no pictures as I can't find my camera cable - I suspect that cleaning for a house showing is to blame. But really, what's to show on a hip pocket? And I actually just need to vent a bit. And you're here so here goes.
Back in January when Karen came to visit and we shopped and sewed I cut out a pair of BWOF slacks using some wool I'd just purchased at A Fabric Place, a lovely piece of carmel/brown with a nice finish. Not cheap (um, like I ususally use) but a good price for Michael. (have I mentioned how much I like shopping there? No? Well I should, someday.....) While Karen photographed and pattern snipped, I layed out my fabric and pattern and cut away. I assured Karen that I'd made these before (I had) and they fit (they do) and I was sooooooo confident. Slow forward a few weeks and started to work. Put in the front pleats and got ready for the pockets. And just couldn't make them work. No way, now how. Didn't remember having problems with this before. First, I assumed that I hadn't cut the front part of the pocket - often that piece is isn't separate so I just hauled out some lining fabric, layed out my pattern piece and cut. With my other fabric still attached to it. And, yes, cut off the front tag. From the fabric AND the pattern. For the love of pete, what was I thinking? Taped the cut piece back on the pattern and recut that piece. And still couldn't get it to work. Hauled out books and the magazine. And put it in time out while I fought with my serger's threading for a while. So, this morning I drug the pair I'd made before upstairs and vowed to get past this so I could have this nice pair of pants on Monday. And I twisted and pinned and ripped and scratched my head for a while. So what was the big freakin' deal with these pockets? Seriously?
And the answer is..... I HAD cut out the right piece - it was (oddly?) hiding in the bottom drawer of my desk with a couple of waist band pieces that I hadn't even missed yet. So I put that part together, nicely top stiched and pressed and moved on to the rest of the pocket and STILL COULDN"T MAKE IT WORK! The back pocket piece just didn't line up to make a nice side seam and the bottom curve wasnt' right. WTF? Just wrong. So I pulled back out the pattern piece - all taped back together and compared to the picture on the magazine. And ANOTHER "aha" moment as I recovered from shear dumb-assedness. I'd taped the cut off piece onto the wrong edge of the pocket. I'd already cut these pockets twice: once correctly but destroyed in the cut and again wrong with the miss-taped pattern piece. Did I have enough to correct this? Barely. I have about 6" of fabric left now. And 2 properly installed pockets. Whew! Now I can finish these this afternoon and have them ready for Monday.
Whew. What a stupid ordeal. And I still don't know how in the hell those pieces found their way into that drawer? HOW?!?
Oh, off to finish house cleaning and going to lunch while they show my house.

Which one?

This way or
This way? The main stretch goes the way of the bottom, but it's a 4-way stretch.

Record Turnaround?

I'm a stasher. I admit it. I like it. I have no plans to change. And it only occasionally bothers me to have stuff I'm not using. I love deciding that I want to sew, and after rummaging around a bit I can do it. And I tend to need let my fabric age a bit before I use. Usually. But I just couldn't wait to use one of the fabrics I bought last weekend. The border print on the end + 2 hours became this I used a bit of Steam a Seam on the hem to hold it while I hemmed it using a double needle. Then I double needled the elastic in the waist, folded it over and doubled needled it again. It was quick and easy and I have a new skirt for Monday. It's a very stretchy knit - quite a bit of Lycra in it. Some of the center dots are yellow. Now, for the rest of the fabric. What do you think? Yes or no? I can't decide if I like it or its just weird? What do you think? The pattern is a Jalie tee shirt, short sleeved.
And I finally finished the simple, grey wool skirt I started about 6 weeks (or so?) ago. I got a bit stalled out for no reason. It's all done and could be worn on Monday, ok Tuesday. But it's too small. I tried it on before adding the waist band and it was huge. I took it in some -obviously too much. I still forced myself to finish, I was only lacking the hem. I will be thin again. As God as my witness, I will wear this skirt. And others. Not part of the pattern, I lined the front over skirt - so it wouldn't stick to the skirt. Lining was from JoAnn's a couple of years ago.
So that's a wrap from a dreary, damp and chilly Maryland.

You're a mean one, Mr Grinch

While doing some Christmas shopping the other day I ran across this awesome Grinch tee shirt: Now I'm a Grinch lover from way back and so just had to have it. And it was only $6. But seriously, look at it. It's a men's large and quite fugly. But I had a plan. I added a little Jalie pattern, some Grinch Green thread (who knew they even MADE Grinch green thread?) A little snipping and a bit of serging and sewing. And you get this: Much betterer, don't you think, Max? I kept the original hem on both the bottom and sleeves and removed and reused the neck binding. That was the hardest part - unpicking the binding stitching to use. Ah, yes, it's as cuddly as a cactus and as charming as eel. I so so love me a Grinch.

Mojo Sucking Sewing

From time to time, if you read sewing blogs or websites, you hear about folks loosing their sewing mojo. The desire to sew, to make, to create. Most don't know where it went, they just want it back. Well, I'm here to tell you where mine went. It was sucked dry and empty by (1) holiday linens. Not hard, all I did was serge the edges of a big old piece of cotton/linen for a table cloth and then cut and serge some napkins to go with. I had some other napkins but the print is so off grain and crooked that I can't bring myself to mess with anymore. Pah. The tablecloth and napkins turned out fine, but ***yawn****. And (2) by attempting to finish up 2 pairs of pants. Putzing and fussing with waistbands and buttons and buttonholes and belt loops and still having them look like Becky Homecky attacked them with a vengeance. And their both a bit tight, despite being the same pattern as my favorite pair of pants. Pfffft. I didn't even get them hemmed, I put them on and marked one spot for the hem and couldn't bring myself to finish measuring and pinning and folding and pressing and stitching. Putzy and fussy.
So, how am I going to get over this? I hope this will help. I bought 2 "jelly rolls" from JoAnn's in little girl pinks and browns and some additional fabrics to finish off a quilt for my grand-niece (just saying that makes me feel so freakin' old!) . It's all pink and brown and flowery and polka-dotty and little girly. I'll probably do another french braid - it takes a minimum of cutting and piecing and doesn't loose a lot of yardage in a lot of seams. I'll show you that one as it progresses. All the fabric, except the rolls, is in the washer. And that's hard to photograph.
I should have some time over the holiday to work on this, my MIL was coming on Tuesday but isn't feeling well so she had to cancel (just a rant here: Delta charged me $150 to put my EARNED miles back to my account! It's not like they have to have a CPA certify this, the computer does it all. What a cheap, crappy charge. End rant) so my weekend freed up a lot. My son's having surgery on the following Monday, so I'll be back and forth to the hospital but probably not making my hour + commute daily. So more time. And time alone at my house! That NEVER happens.

Instant Gratification

I just want to start by saying, again, how much I like my new serger (SQUEEE!). This thing is an absolute blast. I never understood how people could sew so (ha-ha, get it? so-so?) fast and get so many items done in a short time. NOW I understand. It's 4:30 on Sunday and I've made 4, count 'em four, garments! 3 tops and a pair of PJ bottoms. Including tracing out the Burda turtleneck and working through a minor serger breakdown. So here's the output:

First, the T-neck from yesterday. The one where I didn't smile. If you want more on this one, scroll down a bit to yesterday's post.

And since I had that lovely extra hour today and the turtleneck already traced I slept in and still produced 3 more items.

First I hauled out my Jalie tee-shirt pattern and some knit scraps of unknown origin (though if you're a bettin' women, bet on G Street but maybe New York?). I'd cut something out of this once before but my machine didn't like this thin, stretchy knit and it got wadded up and tossed down the trash chute at the apartment. Serger just said "Bring it on", and so I did. In about an hour and a half, including cutting out. I know it's short sleeved, but that's all the fabric I had and I'm planning on wearing under sweaters this winter. See, I'm smiling about this one!

Then I decided to try my hand, um, serger on a woven. Again, I already had a pattern traced (thanks, Wendy!) for some PJ bottoms and some fabric that I really had no clue how to use. So clown PJ's they are. Again, about an hour and half start to finish. I did everything but the waistband on the serger. I folded over the waist and stitched it on my Topaz. Used some of the elastic I got from FabricMart in the mystery bundle. As a matter of fact, that's where the fabric came from, too. A couple of years ago. I love the colors but not so sure about the overall look of the print. But it's a nice soft cotton. I choose not to model these for you - I couldn't find my red nose or squirting flower.

And last, but not least, I pulled the turtleneck pattern back out again. And dug through my stash and found yet another knit scrap from yet another failed knit attempt. Also of unknown origin but I'm thinking Hancock's. And again, the original garment is in a land fill. This is a very thin knit, not much stretch but it turned out well. Not as great as yesterday's - the lack of stretch matters. But it works. Glad I added the 2" to the bodice length or this would be too short.

Saturday

After I did my grocery shopping this morning, I had the rest of the day to do as I pleased. And it pleased me to play with my new serger (SQUEEEE!) and make the Burda turtleneck #120 from September that's all the rage on the sewing scene right now. I will say that this truly is a great little pattern. It took exactly hour on the machine. I serged (SQUEEE!) the shoulders/neck and side seams. I put the sleeves in flat on my sewing machine which took longer than all the rest together. My Topaz really hated this fabric. Really. Even ate a whole in it at one edge. I had to do the sleeves from the center out and then center out again. PITA. I don't have the accessories to switch my serger to do a coverstitch so I just Steam-a-seamed the hem and cuffs. Fabric is from THE WALL at G Street and was actually in my "what was I thinking box" until I drug it out for this first serging attempt. Ok, that was the good part. Remember I said one hour on the machine? Well, it was 2 hours tracing off the horrid new Burda sheets. Maybe that's why I look so sad in the picture? These things seriously BITE. This was 3 lousy pieces with no pleats or placards or other fancy-schmancy markings. 2 HOURS! Though that does include laying out and cutting this springy stretchy as all get out fabric. I'll definitely use this pattern again, though. Not just because it's great but because of all the work it took to trace the dang thing out.
Ok, next up. My quilting project. Tell me what you think. Please.

The center piece is a cotton kimono I've been dragging around for 40 years (at least). It's a large child size and I love the fabric but will never wear it. I found the fabric on the left and really like it with it. The fabric on the right? Not so sure. I love it, but just not sure I love it with the other two, I may be putting it there just because it's Japanese. Comments? Please? I do think I need 3 fabrics, but not sure what #3 should be.

Something different

Inspired by a thread on Stitcher's Guild and the major shrinkage of my bargello place mats and the need for my table to look nice for home showings and a 50% off coupon at JoAnnn's and a new sewing foot (yes, it was truly a perfect storm) I decided I needed new place mats. I really want to make another bargello set, but that took a lot of time that I just don't have. So I vastly simplified and bought 2 coordinating quilting fabrics, some flannel and whipped up a new set. I will say that I could have whipped them faster if I had (1) created one large piece of fabric, quilted that and then cut apart into separate mats and (2) not gotten stupid about the binding and made it too wide and then made it work (yes, Tim would have been proud of me, but Michael Korrs would have called it a home sewn mess - he'd be right).

BUT I did learn to free-motion quilt. And let me say that it was a total blast. Like coloring outside the lines. Like sidewalk chalk on a summer day. Like finger painting. Like.. well, you get the idea. I thought it mattered how careful you were and that you made all those scribbles nice and neat and spaced apart, blah, blah, blah. Nope, none of that mattered at all. I put on my new springy foot, played just a bit with a scrape of the flannel and then went to town. It was harder on my hands than I thought it would be and I was using very small pieces of fabric (maybe should look into quilting gloves for a larger project?), but it was fun, fun, fun. I think it turned out just fine and dandy - and much better than my binding. And can you believe I had the perfect thread in my basket? Huhn.

Sewn-day

I finally got a little time to sew today. It's been a looong time since I really sewed - not counting buttons or putting the hem back in a pair of pants. I mean sewed.

First off, remember this? Aruba Waves? When last we saw it we'd decided it need a gecko. Not the insurance selling kind, but an Aruban gecko. I looked high and low on the 'net for an applique that I liked to no avail. Most were cartoonish, some were just ugly. None were right. Well, as it turned out I had the right one all along. He was hanging out in my closet on a tee shirt that I bought in (wait for it....) ARUBA! My BFF and I went down there a few years ago and I bought this shirt. Don't know why other than the adorable gecko and it's purple. I'm not really a tee-shirt girl but I'm a sucker for anything purple. So a little work later I had this: I basted on a layer of washaway stabilizer and then zig-zagged around the edges. Trimmed off the extra and there you have it. Cute as a gecko, eh? I mean as cute as they can be since lizards are probably the least cute of the animal kingdom. But I got the shirt out the closet where it hung because I couldn't bear to toss it and now I'm ready to quit this. And speaking of quilting - this little exercise taught me the wisdom of free-motion. Turning this puppy around and around to get the right angle was rather painful (literally a couple of times with some long sharp pins).

And I've had an obsession with Mondo's skirt form Project Runway since he won the Jackie O contest. Well as luck would have it (a good thing, this time, really) I actually had the fabric in my stash from FabricMart - yep, sure about that, they put tags on their fabric. And I was pretty sure I could find a pattern somewhere in my Burda collection (they don't get a link because they don't think that English speaking readers deserve a website). I was right - from February 2010, I found this one: (apparently, even the French don't get line drawings from past issues, anymore). You'll have to look at your own copy for now, I suppose. #124 - it's a petite sized pattern which does ok for my lower half. And I got a decent start. Actually got a little further than this, but this was where I took the picture to show you the godlet/insert at the waist: I have some black piping from my NYC shopping trip that I'm going to put in the front walking slits. It's solid black, very flexible and has a cord wrapping the cording. Narrower than the stuff you buy at Hancock's and much prettier. You can click on the photo I linked to and see it if you just can't stand it. I can make my own piping, but this was really pretty stuff.

And to do a bit of follow-up, we'll be moving the eastern side of Washington, near the Oregon border. We lived in western Washington for 2 years about 20 years ago - it's weird going back. But we loved it out there, so that part's ok.

Still hanging around

I know I've been absent a while, but there's just not been much going on that I thought anyone would be interested in. Especially, no sewing. None. I traced a Burda from September - my introduction to the new and very hideous pattern sheets. My eyes may too old for that! I chose a very simple pattern - only 3 pieces, and still made a mistake in tracing. Erg. Then I cut it out of some of the fabric I bought at JoAnn's in Detroit. A good chunk of my stash is still packed in boxes, so my choices were limited. And that is as far as I've gotten. So, wait, does that count as sewing? Maybe? Oh, and I FINALLY FINALLY put the buttons on my navy wrap skirt that I started back in the apartment back in May. At least it was May 2010.
We've put our house on the market and I have to keep the house clean for showing. So instead of my big, nice sewing room I have a sewing machine on a table. And everything else is in the closet in boxes. **sigh** I may have some time on Sunday - there's a showing on Saturday so no sewing tomorrow.
While I was in Detroit with my son's surgery, my husband lost his job. I should say "sort of" because he has a ton of vacation time and that held him until he found another position. Same company, different coast. So we'll probably be moving to Washington. The OTHER Washington, as in State. And that is why our house is for sale. We moved in over Memorial Day weekend. And it was for sale again before Labor Day. **sob**. I'm just hoping it sells fast and we can get this over with.
I do have some photo's I can share, if I can find my camera cable. Maybe if I actually looked for it? I should give it a try, you think?

The white shirt

I completely finished and wore my white shirt to dinner the other night. I really liked it, but I'm going to tell you there was something seriously wrong with the back facing. The front is faced with the button plackard facing that runs up to the shoulders and should attach to the back facing. The front facings fit very nicely. But the back was wrong. You were instructed to cut one on fold, but when I started to attach it to the back it was too big. By almost - but not quite - twice. I rechecked my piece both for cutting directions and size, but I did it right. So I cut it down to fit the neck edge and left enough of the curve - I thought. But when I was all done the neck wouldn't lay flat. I tried cutting wedges out and it still just wasn't a pretty fit. I finally cut the whole back facing out (no pics of this ugly fix) and called it done. A quick hem and I was finished and posing in front of the apartment. I want it noted that I AM WEARING SHOES! Sandels, maybe, but they are SHOES. It fits nicely (I had to add my usual 2" above the waist). This was a fun wear and now that I know the back facing is off - a quick sew. Easy options for different looks. Remember this was 90% off fabric. The bias tape was more expensive than the fabric. And don't get me started on the awesome buttons that will be reused when this shirt becomes history.

My New Home machine behaved beautifully during this entire operation. Beautiful stitches, forward and backward and nice buttonholes. YEA! This was, by far, the best $13.57 I ever spent.

The pants? Yuck. I hate these things. They're RTW, Ann Taylor, I think. And just fugly. Their only redeeming value is the cut embroidery on the hem.

Busy sewing day.

First, I want to say that I'm not an iron snob. Nor do I really dislike ironing. And I don't have to have a fancy steam generator and table sized surface, but this really just wasn't working for me. Nor was this the solution. In fact, this picture was taken just before that cheap-ass iron puked some kind of red stuff all over the white shirt-in-the-making on the left. Not a good start to the day. So I packed up myself, the orange purse in the upper photo, and my 40% off JoAnn's coupons and fixed the situation. Now I know this isn't a high-tech set up, but it's a vast improvement. I was able to put the new board on the edge of the table and it gave me a great height to work on. The iron is a Rowenta that gets nice and hot and steams clean, clear water. I also bought color remover and got the red stuff off the shirt.

The shirt. I'm using New Look 6967 view B - the main photo on the left. Using the white embroidered cotton from JoAnn's 90% off sale. I'm now almost done lacking only hemming, sewing on the buttons and cutting open the buttonholes. I'm afraid to cut them using a seam ripper, so I'm procrastinating. The red stuff was on the left shoulder just beside the left arm hole (on the right in the picture). All gone. But the color remover did fade the piping on the arms a little. Well, better than a big old red stain. Take a look at my bitchin' buttons. You can see the fabric well, too.

My machine, the New Home, is doing great. It makes a 4-step button hole and did fantastic. And the poor tension issues are all better. THANK YOU!!! Kristine!! You rock. I love you, man. Now that the reverse is working this machine is beautiful. it makes great stitches, nice and even. My top stitching was easy. And the "B" foot has 2 grooves that worked great for the piping and invisible zippers (I didn't realize this on the dress, but I'm on to it now). I think it's finally fulfilling it's sewing destiny. I seriously don't think this machine had ever sewn a stitch before I rescued it from the Salvation Army. Some things are just meant to be.

My next project was going to be the See & Sew pattern again.

With the floral draped on the annoying ironing situation at the top of this rambling post. But after washing, drying, ironing the fabric and laying it out on the fabric I stopped short of cutting. It just wasn't right. I left it overnight to think on it. I think the repeat is too small and it was going to look goofy no matter how careful I was with matching up the pattern. I think I'm going to use the blue floral from Fabric Warehouse. I washed it today. It's a very lightweight (probably) poly with a definite retro feel to it. It will need lining, though.