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.

Ok, I'm going in!

I'm such a follower. I just can't help myself. But I also want to make jackets that fit me since RTW makes me feel like I'm wearing a poorly drafted straight jacket - no, wait, that would be more comfortable. But there're a bunch of sewests on Stitcher's Guild participating on a 12 month/12 jacket sew along. Note it's a sew-along, not a contest. Well, this supplies me with both my pathetic need not to be left out and a jacket (or two) as icing on the cake. No way to I expect to complete 12 jackets in the next year (or maybe all those subsequent, for that matter), but I'm going to sew along and post my pic's and generally just do it.

For my first jacket I think I've settled on BWOF (or what ever it was called) from August 2010. Number 114 if you have the magazine. The photo is compliments of the French website where Burda apparently still values their customer base. I will likely omit the breast pockets, they just don't do it for me. It's listed as 2.5 dots, and there're a lot of pieces, but that gives a chance for better fitting. Right? I love the fitted look, the neckline (no collar is nice for the look and the sewing) and the front zipper. I will undoubtedly have to add a couple of inches above the waist - that's easy. It's the back and arm scye I'm concerned about. That's where RTW always fits so badly on me.

So wish me luck and stay tuned.

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.

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.

I'm just tired

I spent most of today looking at icky houses. Tiny, tiny bedrooms and patios with the neighbor's pool as the view. 6 houses and only one that I finished looking at. And it's over our price range - BUT it's been on the market for a looonnnnngggg time and may be flexible. I hate looking for houses (but not as much as job-hunting, just sayin'). And in the rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. Pouring rain. Flooding rain. But none of the homes I saw had damp basements. And after 5 feet of melting snow and 4 inches of rain, that's a true test.

I have 2 new sewing projects lined up. A BWOF from Jan 09 (pretty sure 'bout that) in black linen-look rayon. Nice fabric from FabricMart.com. And a navy skirt out of a Jacquard (did I spell that closely? Seriously, don't care. ) I have 3.5 yards, but it's very narrow - only about 36" wide. Lyra-if you're watching, I'm using the BWOF pattern you sent me. Do you remember when it was from? An A-line "wrap" with double buttons on the front. I'm going to line them both with the same fabric from ??? G-Street????? I'll cut both tomorrow and sew on them as I have time. And I need to hem a pair of RTW, need to take up the waist, too. But it's faster to make new pants than fix purchased ones.

My husband has already gone to bed. I think he over-did while I was gone. He picked up the mail, started dinner, cleaned his bathroom. Walked up the stairs (5 stories) for exercise. Now he feels poorly and stiff and has retired and left me to HGTV and BWOF mags and a glass of wine. And Whine.

And now that spring is imminent, I'm remembering summer.

Lovely Summer.

And now a small break from life.

I'm popping in for a minute between disaster I now call life to show you a few pictures and updates.

First, the lonnnnggggg awaited back of the quilted wall hanging from the jell-roll knock-off. I think its almost too cute to put against a wall. You can see I found a really close match to one of the front fabrics. Fun, fun, fun. And since I had no idea how much fabric to buy (because I didn't measure at all, not even a little) I bought way too much. But, seriously, in real life, what do you do with giraffe fabric? No matter now much you may love it? This: so when I BBQ on safari (karen, we really DO need to plan one of those some day - after Paris), I'll be ready. (Please, NO, I have NO intention of cooking a giraffe! Really, people.)

My BWOF skirt lacks only hemming right now. Maybe next week. Fabric is from Fabric-mart (pretty sure....), a pretty green loden with some nice color flecks. Just a tad of stretch. It's fully lined with a boring brown you can see peaking out from the bottom. I completely ignored the crappy Burda waist band finishing that made no since to me and seemed to leave a big chunk of the high waist with raw edges. And would be really bulky and heavy - not something my and hot flashes need. I'm afraid it may be a bit too big at the back waist, though. Nice through hips and front waist but wanted to gather at the top of the back waist - I wonder if it stretched a bit? I darkened this a bit to show a little of the front detail. It really doesn't show well in any photo. But it is a nice design. Oh, and a crappy, not-so-invisible zipper.

And to shift gears a bit. My knitting is progressing. I made this cowl from Malabrigo worsted. LOVE the yarn, LOVED my idea of the pattern, and like the scarf. This was knit on circ's and was supposed to do the zig-zag the whole scarf, but I think I (1) cast on one too many stitches so it didn't start right. (2) made a mistake so it started zz-ing (3) made another so it stopped zz-ing (4) repeat one or both of the above errors. If I showed you enough close up you could see a few holes. Errgggg. But from walking around distance you can't see them and I enjoy wearing it. Here's a close up of the pattern. You can see it's still interesting and can determine what I'd originally planned. I'll try again next fall. Right now I'm trying socks.

All over the place.

My pants are still in time out. Not sure if they can be revived, they may move to the trash chute. Soooo, I've moved on.

Before I left Detroit after Christmas I made a final trip to JoAnn's. I don't often purchase fabric at JA's but they had a few that I really liked. The two on the left are knits - thin but nice recovery. The floral is probably a rayon, maybe a summer weight dress? In fact, the blue has already become a Jalie tshirt. Overall, I like the shirt, but like the other Jalie I have it's too short. I need to add a couple inches to the torso to move the waist down. Oh, and I hate 3/4 length sleeves. I used knit stabilizer in the neck and hem. You can't tell from the (very goofy) picture, but it really helped the way it wears. I'll wear this and may use my other knit for another version - a longer version that is, I do like the boat neck. The brown knit reminds me very much of a fabric that I bought in NYC at Spandex House that met an unfortunate end with a BWOF shirt (RIP). And yes, I know I still haven't shown you that I own or wear shoes. Maybe next time. The scraps are cut into underpinnings, but I just can't get the elastic to sew at the edges of the fabric so they're hanging with the trousers in the time out cubby.

And, as long as I'm shopping at JA's.... I picked up my first Jelly Roll. Not a Moda roll - a cheap knockoff. Some of the strips weren't cut very straight. And because it was new I couldn't wait to play with it. A little searching on line and help from my friends at Pattern Review I cut and pieced on Sunday. The pattern is called French Braid and required minimal additional cutting. It isn't a blocked quilt, you just add the pieces to create the strip. I went back to JA's today and found a dark red to border it with. The backing is a giraffe print similar to one of the pieces. Oh, and bought another roll for another quilt. it's a bigger roll, what do they call them? Blue and green batik. Photos on another day. Suggestions for a pattern? Minimal additional cutting, remember.

And I'm still working on my son's scarf. I'm a very slow knitter. Good thing winter's are long in Detroit.

WTF?

Seriously. (1) how did this happen? (2) how did I not notice it was happening until I was done (3) how could Sandra let me down? I thought we were close? I suppose I'm out of practice, but this is bad. I did such a nice job on the pockets and a nice job putting the zipper in. Well, except for one itty-bitty little detail. This is (was?) a pair of slacks from a recent BWOF magazine and some stretch suiting from G Street. As you can see, at the top above my fingers that I've even done the top stitching. I'm not sure I can get this out to re-work, the thread is a very good match and it sinks into the fabric a lot. As you may suppose, they are currently wadded in the time out corner, spending some time thinking about what they've done wrong.

So in order to have something to show for my long weekend, other than a wadder of a pair of slacks and some missing colors for my embroidery project, I picked up my bargello placemats that I left unfinished last summer (click the link to see the original post from September, about 2 weeks before I left for my banishment to Detroit). No, they aren't perfect, there are a number of wonky stripes, but they are usable and it was fun. The pattern was to make 6, in 2 batches - so you piece three at a time and then cut them apart and finish them. Well, with the wonkiness of stitching, and I think I'm still making too "generous" of a 1/4" seam allowance, I didn't have enough cut strips to make 2 sets. AND (in keeping with this weekend's theme), I put the binding on one set wrong side out (it's sitting in the corner with the slacks, but has a much brighter future ahead of it). But here are the 2 that did get finished and used. I photographed them before we had Mexican for dinner. I will be doing this again, it was fun. The back (ack!) actually shows the bad striping worse than the front, I think. You can't really tell in the picture, but you quilt as you go, each row is sewn onto the flannel "batting" and the back so the back is quilted and the front is smooth. I wasn't sure how to finish the binding without putting stitching on the top so I really cheated and Steam-a-seams the back of the binding. I was tired of messing with them. The quilting lines really show up wonky on the back. Boo. But I learned a lot doing this, and this style of quilting really lends itself to this type of project. It is much too stiff a result for a bed quilt or throw (though I suppose you could make it work with different fabrics), but worked fabulously for placemats and would be wonderful for wall hangings or table runners. It isn't very heavy or fluffy - just very stiff. I used all quilting cottons from Hancock's with a piece of flannel as the batting. Just cheap PJ type flannel. I found some woven with a gingham pattern that was great for lining up the strips. A stripe (woven in - not printed on, too often off grain) would also do very well. Not too sure how well these will launder - all the fabrics are likely to shrink and at different rates. I have a book that has some nice tutorials and patterns in it. I used it with my own color choices.

So, is it cold enough for you?

Buh-Bye 09

I'm one of the 75% of Americans (according to my TV this morning) that is glad to see end of 2009. So Happy New Year and new decade. We have some casual dinner plans at a sports bar to watch the UT/VA Tech game tonight. Likely won't make it to midnight, though I may want to stick around just to be sure 2009 really leaves us.

And because I can't be left out of a year-end theme, I'd like to recap my 2009 sewing. I didn't make any goals and likely won't for 2010, either. I just want to enjoy doing it, not work towards specific goals. But I did: buy a new machine, learn to embroider, learned to love BWOF and not hate tracing them, make many awesome pairs of pants (see the BWOF line), learn to knit, meet a couple of SG friends in person, and to toss hideous fabric down the trash chute. For 2010 my single goal is to spent more time in my sewing room. I've spent the last 3 months without setting foot in it (except to iron occasionally and to cut out one pair of still unsewn slacks). Oh, and to avoid putting bad embroidery on ill fitting clothing - so far, so good, but I'm getting worried.

So here's to 2010. And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It snowed, I sewed

It snowed. A lot. If I could find my camera cable I would show you my patio with drifts past my waist and some cool (ha! pun soooo intended) cornices and shapes. We watched season one of the Tudors while about 18" of the white stuff piled up outside. Timing was perfect, it started snowing while we walked home from dinner Friday night, allowing for a decent commute home and even stopping at the store. It wound down around 8 or 9 on Saturday night. We live right on a main highway so we could see the plows come by at regular intervals. They expect the Metro to be up and running in the morning for rush hour. Most of Saturday regular TV was displaced for "Storm Watch, the Blizzard of 2009". But, yes, it was a lot of snow.

I traced BWOF November 2009 trousers #122 this morning. I must be out of practice, as the whole tracing and cutting thing consumed an extraordinary amount of time. Or maybe it was the company of my husband who needed something every other minute. Or most likely both. I'm using a slightly stretch wool blend from (drum roll here, please......) G Street's $2.97/yard wall. What else would you expect? Seriously. It's a brownish-gray pinstripe purchased on my last run through there when my friend was here for a conference. She stayed the weekend and, of course, we shopped. But what a chore this tracing was. I really must keep up my skills, this took all morning! As for the sewing, back darts in and one back leg seams finished. Not much, is it? Maybe will get a little more, but not likely. Need to get some packing done for our Christmas trip, then I'll be gone for a week. I SWEAR I will sew over New Years. I Promise! It was a bit of a leap to get back in there and get started.

And speaking of starting. Or stopping. The vest/waistcoat that has been languishing for months has been officially banished to UFO land. I am forced to admit that I don't know how to finish this. I have the outside together and the lining together, but don't know how to make them into a lined vest. So I rescued my pins, labeled the damn thing, and shoved it on a shelf. Pah!

And I want to thank Cidell for reminding me of my love for this dress:

From the September issue that I circled and then never got to look at again. Don't know about the super short sleeves, though, or it would be on my New Year's sewing list. Maybe back on the shelf until spring. I do really love it, though. Thanks, Cidell.

On your mark, get set, Bargello...

Or, how I spent my Sunday.

After an extremely busy week I finally made it to JoAnn's on Friday to get my batting for the Bargello quilt. I'd originally figured I could use the stuff I had on hand. But the instructions recommended very thin batting, i.e. flannel. In fact, either striped or checked flannel. No big deal, but it did involve a shopping trip I had no time for.

So here is my progress so far:

Starting with 4 sets of panels, sew them together into a tube - this photo is on the sofa I wanted to coordinate with. Then cut them in the widths as required. I used a pattern out of a book, so they told me how many of what width to cut. I did that last weekend and labeled them in the same order as they are listed in my directions. And yes, I know that 4 does not come before 3. Even in quilting. So when I started piecing I could look at my chart and see that strip #12 (the center and first strip used) is a number 2 from my group (next time I will letter these, rather than number, as the strips are numbered and it would be simpler to work with).

The first assembly step is to lay out the batting (flannel) on the backing. Backing face down, batting face up making sure to be as straight as possible. Pin at regular intervals.

Next, lay your first - center - strip down on the batting face up. This is where the checks or stripes come in handy. You need to be very accurate with this strip. It's like hanging wallpaper - get the first one right or the whole room will slope down hill.

Pin the second strip to the first, right sides together, like any seam. Then you sew these together and onto the batting/backing at the same time. Your result is a quilted back but smoothly pieced front. This is the halfway point. So from the center to the end at the right side. This will later be cut into 3 pieces for 3 place mats and bound. And done, as the quilting is already complete. Cool, eh?

I also got a little work done on the vest. The outside is together and tried on for fitting. Good with that. The lining has the markings done and the back darts and center back seam sewn, with the gap left for turning. And may I say that silk sure is slippery stuff to work with. Like trying to sew water. We'll see how this turns out.

We walked downtown this morning for breakfast at a "European Cafe", then strolled through the art fair in progress this weekend. Apparently the new rage in art is digital painting - enhancing (Photoshopping) a digital photograph and then printing it on canvas. I'm not convinced this is high level art, but the results are pretty cool, non-the-less. It did inspire me to play around with Photoshop a bit. All the pics in the entry are Photoshopped. Usually I just use Microsoft photo or whatever came with the computer. I'm wondering if there is a real difference at this level of use. It sure takes longer with PS, probably 3 times as long. Is it worth it?

And we house hunted Friday afternoon and Saturday. Finally, on Saturday, we saw some real possibilities. All four were acceptable for the most part. One had a garage too small for our cars, one had a nasty hot tub that would be a pain to remove and no exit from the basement, and one had no rough-in for plumbing in the basement. That leaves one on the short list. It's brand new - never lived in. A short sale that could be a PITA, but a pretty good deal on the home.

And Tennessee lost. Going out on a limb here and say we need a new quarterback. Period.

Weekend Update

Well, the (for me) 4 day weekend is over. I had Friday off as a flex day. It's especially nice when it fall around a holiday. I mentioned my enormous success with UFO's on Friday.
On Saturday, we took the Metro (well, sort of) to DC to a bar that hosts the UT Alumni Society for football games. There was a terrific turn out - at least 111 Big Orange Fans - and a terrific outcome to the game (well, for the Big Orange Fans).
Yesterday I made it to Hancock's and bought my fabric to make some Bargello quilt place mats. Seems like a good first project. I got the strips cut, sewn into tubes and the cut ready to piece. To make these quilts, you cut strips and sew them together into sets of the same sequence. Much like other quilts. This project takes 5 fabrics, cut into 2 1/2" strips sewn together. Then you take that set of strips and 3 other identical sets and sew them together, including the last group to the first group so you get a striped tube. Then you take this tube and cut strips from this of various widths. These new strips are then pieced to make the curves and stripes. I got as far as cutting one set of the strips to piece. When you piece it, you sew each strip to the backing/batting sandwich, so when the piecing is done, the quilting is done. Ready to bind and be done. No quilting shows on the top. The author recommends a very thin batting - flannel with a check or stripe pattern is ideal. There in lay my problem. I didn't "get" this originally so didn't buy this type of batting. So another trip to JA's is planned for lunch tomorrow. (Note, the colors are much more true in the top photo, I'm not sure why they appear so yellow in the lower picture. And I really love the way they look on the black table.)

So, I moved on to hemming 2 pairs of RTW pants I found at Banana Republic on Friday - cutting of FIVE inches and hemming 2"! I'm not THAT short and the pants were labeled "average" Whatever. I now have 5 more pairs of pants than I did on Thursday! WooHoo!

And since I still had some time, I started on my BWOF vest from the December 2008 issue. I didn't get far, but I did get started. This was a big leap for me, first "tailoring" effort. I know, barely have my pinkie toe in the pool of tailoring with this, but it's a start. It may be a long haul, though. I spent about an hour trying to get a tube to turn for the back "belt". My husband actually got it started for me. Um, yeah, I cut it half as wide as I should have. No wonder it was so hard to turn. A one inch tube is much easier than a half inch tube. Yeah, it may be long haul. I want it to turn out well so I can wear it at the Novi convention at the end of the month. I think it would look splendid with the "I made this" pin on it. Well, if it looks splendid, that is.

Escape from Area 51

A few (HAHAHA!) posts back I mentioned that I was going to finish up all my UFO's and have some new clothes and a cleaner room. Yeah, well. TODAY I did. The full compliment of now FO's: This includes a pair of black pants, some lighter linen look pants, and a dark navy pants, as well as the dress. The black pants needed a hem and buttons. The linen pants needed some buttonhole work (I keep cutting threads when opening my BH's), the navy just needed ironing (seriously!) and I re-hemmed the dress. This time I just folded it up 1/2" and hand stitched. I didn't use a hem stitch, I wanted it looser - so I just rant the needle down catching a couple of threads on the outside and giving it a tug every 3 stitches or so to keep the crinkle. I'm planning on wearing it tonight so maybe I'll get a picture of it on me and finished. The pants? Eh, who cares. Pants.

So no I have NO (none, zip, zilch, nada) UFO's. I have the next project, which has been cut out only. A vest from BWOF Jan 09. I traced it out a while ago and lost the tracing. I found it a bit ago and cut it out. I'm going to line it with the SILK . Yep, it's time to pull out the real stuff. Pretty, isn't it? From Fabricmart, I think - a silk bundle.

And my parting shot. I've been watching Zombie COuture and her fab nails. It has prompted me to give up the PTA Pink and Grand-mauve colors. Have I gone too far?

The Green Dress

Ok, so you're not fans of Bargello quilting. That's too bad, I bought a book at JoAnn's today so I can touch the information. And will probably mess around with this some tomorrow and Sunday. Saturday is OPENING DAY FOR THE VOLS FOOTBALL. We will be going to a bar in DC to watch with other Alumni in the area. And yes, I will wear orange. Orange underwear, orange shirt, and my UT earrings. Maybe I should have found some orange nail polish. Hmmm. So it will be bear, burgers and some Big Orange cheering on Saturday.

Well, I may be finished with BWOF #108 from Aug 2009. I'm not sure. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the outcome - dispite the expression on my face). The fabric is a loose weave 100% cotton from Hancock's. Almost a gauze and kind of crinkly, so I didn't push a lot towards precision in seam and such. I matched and sewed to keep the crinkles in place. The top was HUGE. HUGE, by that I mean ginormojus. I end up taking 4 inches up in the neck line. It wasn't how low it was, it was how it just hung, all droopy and limp and made the bodice droop and pull the sleeves forward. All just HUGE. In true "get 'er done" fashion, I just took 2, 2" tucks on the front of the neck beside the gathers and called it done. Perhaps it could have been made to fit easier by making more gathers, but some of the excess may have been in the top of the sleeve. Now, the part I'm not sure about. THE HEM. I originally used some lace hem tape and blind hemmed it, but it seemed to pull it too tightly. Sewed the crinkles together, I think, to give it an almost pegged look. So I just took my trusty pinking rotary blade and cut that stuff off. So, now how do I finish it? Leave it like it is? No hem, just pinked? Fold up a narrow hem while pulling out the crinkles? I'm afraid that will create a bell at the bottom. I'm not sure. Any suggestions?

But hey, did anyone notice I'm wearing shoes? No smile, but shoes. You can't have it all, apparently