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.

UNCLE

I officially give up. I cannot get it to work correctly. I know it's a timing issue, but I'm not sure it's JUST a timing issue. Perhaps the hook is damaged or the bobbin case is damaged? I'm really not sure but I am sure I cannot make this puppy run. So back to the Salvation Army it will go. And I will keep an eye out for the 'next big thing'.
While I didn't get an operating sewing machine for $10, I DID learn a big, huge bunch about how a sewing machine works. And, in the process of 3 posts, assembled a nice collections of timing information.

Timing, as they say, is everything

Thanks to Pina on SG and a very patient and nice woman at JoAnn's Viking sales area, I have now determined that the hook is not picking up my top thread as the needle starts back up. JA's showed me the problem was what the machine was not doing to the top thread rather than the bobbin thread. Pina gave me a link to How a Sewing Machine Works that explained why. My one time the bobbin thead did come up was a one time thingy where there was just enough play/tension in the top thread for the hook to catch it once. It never made a stitch because it only did it once, not on every cycle.
Look here and you can see:On this one, a little blurry, but the hook has passed the eye and the thread is ust above the hook. Here, I have forced the thread down below the hook with tweasers and the thread pulled around and would have brought the bobbin thread up and/or made a stitch. Couple of other shots of this. Well after the thread should have caught and a very clear photo of what it should have looked like if it HAD caught just as the eye passed the hook. If you're not sure what you're looking at or for, see the sharp point on the round metal? That's the hook. The needle is down in every shot, though at different points on the cycle. In some shots you can see the thread through the eye. When the needle goes down and starts back up it makes a loop like any string being held in 2 places from above. If it's timed correctly, that sharp hook will snag the loop and spin the thread around across the top of the bobbin case (removed for this photo along with the feed dogs). It does this every stitch. Or should.
Next is the solution. Is it the needle? Are Schmetz' a different length than Singer needles and does it make a difference in this Vintage of a machine (early 70's - 19 that is)? Or is it truely the timing? And is there anything I can do about it, myself?
Back to the internet to see.

Later that same day.... I ran by JoAnn's and bought some Singer needles. I have no photos, but there is a slight difference. Not in length but eye placement - the Singer is just a thread higher on the needle. But anyway, it didn't help. The hook still isn't picking up the thread and it still isn't making a stitch. So I think I'm done. I may try to alter the needle bar to fix the timing. I found this site that may get me there. Not sure it's worth the effort.

working on the merritt

Off and on today I worked on the Merritt. To no avail. I now know that it is a class 66 bobbin. That the bobbin in it was wrong. The top thread is ok. But it won't make a stitch. I got the bobbin thread up once, but it still didn't stitch. And the bobbin thread hasn't pulled up again. I can't get the throat plate off, I think the set screw is frozen -either rust or just too much old oil. I'll give a few more days, but I'm starting to think I can't get it going. Ah, well. We'll see, I'm not done yet.

I went shopping.

My son was discharged today, a couple of days ahead of plan. He's actually doing very well, pretty mobile, eating well. So after we drove home, stopped at McDonald's for some "real" food, dropped off his prescriptions, unloaded the car, and watched an episode NCIS I went back out and picked up a FedEx at the apartment office, went by Salvation Army, dropped off my carry bag to get repaired, picked up the prescriptions and stopped by JoAnn's. All in 2 hours, including NCIS and the drive from Royal Oak. Now, the $64M question. In that list, what stands out? Hmmmm? What did you see that you liked? Walgreens? Nah. Apartment office? Not hardly. Give up? Salvation Army? Yep!

When I was here a few weeks ago there was a nifty little Brother sewing machine there for $20. I talked myself out of it and regretted it. I went back to see if was, by any chance, still there. And no, it was not. But there was this, a Singer Merritt 8102. It runs smoothly, isn't too dirty, has the power cord and foot pedal and all my short shank attachments will fit it. A peek inside showed it wasn't very dirty and is more than adequately oiled (read: greasy). It was $9.99, worth it? I guess we'll see. I can't get it to make a stitch. I think it's threaded correctly. But I'm not sure I have the right bobbin in it. There was a plastic one in it, but I don't know if it's the right one. I found a threading guide and a bobbin insertion guide but not directions on bringing up the bobbin thread (though it looked "up") or what direction to put the needle in. I have it flat to the back, as my threading guide said to thread the needle front to back. But I have one real question. What are these? They are falling out of the foot pedal. A little shinier than the photo shows. Do they matter? Should I worry?

Back on the home front, we have borders. We didn't advertise room for rent and I suppose that's ok, since they are PAYING any rent. But they have moved in. We've taken it down a number of times, but if we leave the garage door open for even a few minutes Robin starts working on it again.

I feel really badly. She's found, in her opinion, the perfect spot. No cats can reach it. It's warm, no need to obsess about sitting on the eggs.
Oh, and one more photo. Sweet..... (from DC Cupcakes, as seen on TLC - tastes as good as it looks, um looked)

How I did the hem

I have a couple more pictures and information on how I did the hem on my skirt. First, let me give credit for the idea to the Singer Manufacturing Company circa 1950. Then I took it from there.

First (and I don't have a picture of this), I had overcast stitched the hem in prep for regular hemming and the bottom edge was nice and even. (sewing machine, not a serger, though it wouldn't matter) Then I just decided how long I wanted my skirt and used a double tracing wheel and tracing paper to mark this line all around. Don't be afraid to mark it like you mean it - you will cut it off. You could use a ruler or other marking tool. But I found it very helpful to have this clear line all around the bottom. I made my hem (scallops) about 5/8" from the bottom (um, cause that was where my tracing wheel was set - I'm just that lazy).

Then I flipped the skirt to the inside and ironed on tearaway stabilizer. I put some foil on the ironing board to protect it - but that's a bad idea, the stabilizer sticks to the foil. Nice try, though After one attempt at that I was just careful where I ironed and pulled it up quickly from the foil. If you look really closely on the top of this photo, you'll see my originally finished edge. I put the stabilizer all the way around the hem. It really wasn't necessary to hang the stabilizer off the edge, I wanted to be sure the feed dogs touched only stabilizer, but it would have been sufficient to go to the edge of the fabric. The stabilizer is important to get a clean line with no puckering and without pulling crooked. Do not skip this step.

Then I used the scallop stitch on my machine - a deco stitch, not embroidery. I made it as long as I could and as wide (7mm in my case). I placed the right edge of the foot (looking at it) on the marked line. And sewed. One caution: Make sure your scallops are going the right way for your hem and either flip the stitch or your fabric if it isn't. Then, as you can see above, I just trimmed off the bottom edge. It was easier and cleaner to do this with the stabilizer still on. Then I tore away the rest.

Feel free to copy at will, LOL. I enjoyed doing this and am quite pleased with the result. Trimming was a bit tedious, but not hard. I used regular, small embroidery scissors (straight blade) and worked from the back - the thread is easier to see against the white stabilizer.

Oh, and I got to use a deco stitch on my machine. FUN!

Couple of comments...

Wendy, I'm glad you received your major award. You things like this always take six to eight weeks for delivery. Yes, the blind hemmer worked like a dream, a charm, a miracle! The foot with my machine has a guide and the left (as you look at it) side is a little raised from the right side to allow for the folds. Then you adjust the zig-zag width so that it just nicks your folded fabric. The guide + the elevation difference keeps the fabric straight. It was a wonder to behold. I seriously wanted to dance. I will say that the difference isn't likely the machine, but the foot and being sure you have the right settings. And go fairly slowly. Now the rolled hem is an entirely different animal that may bite. Not taking any chances and I leave it locked in it's box. Maybe I should work with the Thread's article....

My MIL is getting pretty old and has trouble now actually carrying on a conversation. You pretty much just talk to her or not. You don't get a lot of meaningful give and take. But when was in my sewing room she changed. She talked about my stash, her stash, the obsession of sewests to hang onto every little scrap, how to fit a jacket better, why my quilt worked, why the next-next one won't (she was right, I'm rethinking), my old Singer, my new Viking (she wouldn't touch it, not a single time, LOL), her Touch and Throw, her old treadle that Papaw put a motor on, etc., etc. She loved looking at the BWOF mags - she's never seen anything but the big 4, this was amazing to her. Her eyes were bright and she was her old self. It made me realize how different she is now. Getting old sucks.

My Simplicy dress will become a skirt. I put the bodice only together on Friday morning and slipped it over my head. The bodice, where it should meet the midriff below the girls, doesn't even come to the, um, shall we say apex of the bust line. Not fixable, not usable. I measured the total distance from neck to waist and it was ok - about an inch short, but the difference in the bodice was OFF OFF OFF. I may try again, adding about 3 inches to this part of the dress (it's high in the back, not just over the bustline). But I'll finish the bottom part into a pull on skirt for summer and maybe some undies to match. For some reason that amuses me. Now, I need elastic. With no sewing money left after my Fabric.com splurge and my saving 25% yesterday.

Well, this is a busy week, I'd better get at it. Catch you on the flip side (meaning when I get bored and take a break AND have something to say). I'll leave you with a picture from the National Botanical Gardens. One of Saturday's highlights.

My New Toy - YEAH!

The the Pfeasco has ended. In case you missed it, the background is here. I traded in my Pfaff Smart 200c yesterday. We went back to Bonny's and I spent some time with Frank, after spending a great deal of time on the Internet and I came home with a much lighter wallet (or heavier credit card bill) and a new machine. I now own a Viking Topaz 30. This is much more machine than I had before. And it has some pretty cool features. I won't bore you with the details, if you're interested you can always check out Viking's Web Site . For those of you "in the know", it is pretty much a Sapphire model with the embroidery unit attached. It's new, only out since last November, and they did some nice upgrades as a spill over from the Diamond - that costs more than my first house. Well, not really, but it's pricey. My favorite "gee whiz" items (so far) are the auto thread cutter, start/stop button (you don't have to use the foot pedal - take note of this if any of my CC friends are reading) and how the presser foot lowers itself and starts to sew. There isn't even a lever to drop it with. (That's a little weird, I have to say). I'm still basking in the glow of new ownership and haven't actually sewn anything yet. Just a bunch of junk on junk. Stitches on scraps. The most constructive was fixing a zipper seam, about 10 stitches worth. I kind of forgot, in the heat of the battle and the dilemma over what to do about this that I would need something to sew when I brought the baby home. As you can see here it pretty much took over our apartment yesterday. DH had enough and left me to it - he did go with me to Bonny's though. And I guess Kacy was ready to trade the whole mess in for her ball.

So in order to have something to work on, this morning I cut out a pair of pants (free prize to the first person who guesses the pattern). No pictures, that just too dull to even photograph. And this afternoon I turned this: My quilt fabrics, into this: Which would be my quilt fabrics cut into 3" strips. Not too exciting, but I also did my taxes (YIKES!) and drove aimlessly around Maryland for about 3 hours. Something I just can't explain, even to myself. Of course, in between it looked like this: That's my Singer 201 hiding beneath the fabric that has been washed, dried and pressed. And yes, the new toy is on the table behind. I'm not sure what I'm going to do next with the strips, as I don't have the same amount of every color (apparently I'm not known for my quilt planning expertise). I starting thinking blocks, but the different number of squares of each color - I'm particularly light on the green - make this difficult. And I want to keep it simple. I may do strips, then the numbers of each won't matter so much. My bed quilt is like this. My new machine (yeah, I like saying that) has some nice piecing and quilting features - particularly for a "non-quiliting" model (Sapphire has a quilting model if you're interested) like the pressure foot float that lifts up the foot automatically when you stop in needle down, the auto tension, extra lift on the foot and feed dog drop, plus a wide range of quilting stitches. Roughly the second row of stitches in the picture above - though I know you can really see them well, trust me, it's a lot.

I need to put the Singer back down in its hidey hole, I suppose, but I'm glad I had that re-bonding time. A silver lining to the Pfaff mess was discovering that so many of my sewing problems and short falls wasn't me. If was Pfaff. I CAN sew a straight line. I CAN sew at the edge. I CAN still eyeball a seam allowance.

Sew, I'm a happier camper tonight. I'm still a little peeved about the whole thing, but it feels good to have made a decision and moved on. Kind of like tossing that wadder or UFO in garbage. No more "what ifs" or "maybes" Done is done. I didn't get the deal of the century, but I'm sewing again and I have a machine that I will not outgrow and that will continue to serve and challenge me for a long time to come. And you can bet that the first time it hiccups, it will be back with Frank.

My son was here last weekend, one reason for the Pfaff/Viking delay. We went to Arlington National cemetery and Philly. There was a full honors ceremony while we were at Arlington. Very moving.

First Jalie

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, though spending a week in Boise feels like it may be right on the edge. I had a 3 day conference/training session at our former home office in Boise, ID. A day to get there and a day back and you've blown the week.

I won't bore you with the conference except for one "team building" exercise that was a ton o' fun. We did an (Yellow) Iron Chef competition. Yellow iron is construction speak for the equipment used. Four groups, 4 recipe: pork, chicken, tuna and beef. A secret ingredient: porcini mushrooms. Points for taste, presentation and creativity. They actually turned us loose in the cafeteria's kitchens with 3 of the chefs/cooks from the cafeteria. My group's recipe was chicken - we got to choose 2nd, and the beef was taken by the first choice team. Stayed away from the tuna - it's fast but hard to get right. 1/2 the group of 6 went to the kitchen and half set up the display table. I was part of the kitchen group that fried 48 (yes forty-eight) chicken breasts, added pasta (we got points for creativity on that part), wilted spinach, made sauce and sauteed mushrooms. The outside group borrowed a painting from another part of the building, added wine bottles and glasses, candles and designed the menu. And yes, WE WON! The golden spatula, LOL. Actually a wooden spoon with a gold ribbon. It was seriously fun and really hard work. And we had no blood or burns on any of the crew or contestants.

I have had no word back from Pfaff on my machine. I'm going to call them tomorrow, I just didn't have time last week. **sigh**

A few weeks ago I made a run to G Street and one of the items I bought was the Jalie tee shirt - the one with a tank top and cami options. I traced out the pattern for the tee yesterday afternoon. I cut it and sewed it up today. I was thrilled with how easily and fast it went together and how nice it fits! I put the sleeves in flat and then sewed up the side seams. I've wanted to try that method and since the Singer doesn't have a free arm this seemed like a good choice. The neck binding was off. It was too long, I'll have make sure I cut it right, not only did I not have to stretch it to fit, I cut off about 2 inches. It looks a little stretched, but better after I steamed the crap out of it, so after it's washed it may be fine. About 2 hours from laying out the fabric to wearing it. All in all, for a first try with a cheap knit from G Street's WALL of $2.97 fabrics, I'm way excited. I had only about a yard of fabric so this was a good match. I cut a size "V" and made no alterations (except the neck thing mentioned above). And I hadn't hemmed it yet in the picture. I see more of these in my future, maybe start haunting the XXL size teeshirts for the nice fabric

In other news, the green skirt is a wadder - it's HUGE to start and way too stretchy. Eh, no big loss, there was no passion for that project, it was a filler.

I also made (yet again) another pair of the infamous Marlene trousers. The flash washed it out, but you can see some detail with the lighter flash. Whew, they look great, they really do. But what a trial. I did everything backwards that I could think of: put the pockets in backward - twice; put the fusible interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric at the zipper (fixed with a Sharpie, LOL); made the pleat and dart the wrong way on one side; made one leg of the lining half backward (one seam right the other inside out). Surprised I didn't hem them folded out. I think because I was in a hurry, I wanted to take them with me. I made them from a beautiful black wool/camel blend from Fabric Mart. It's still only $7/yard and there's some left. It's really a nice trouser fabric - but very warm. I used the "other" side as the right side, so the basket weave doesn't really show. And lined it with the rest of the purple from the Burda skirt. I like the look and feel of the lining. I think the purple is a very rich look. I did the side pockets - the fabric side of the right pocket stayed backwards, it was too late to fix it when I noticed it - but no welt pocket yet. Hell, I'd've probably put it in with the pouch on the outside and in the center of my stomach on this pair. But I did finish, and I did take them them and wear them. I re-hemmed them today, they were a little too long. I won't get much more wear out them this year, though. They are definitely winter weight. But you should snag that fabric while it lasts. For $7/yard this is high end stuff.

Speaking of the Burda skirt, the March issue (I ordered my subscription last Saturday and my first issue came yesterday! That's some service, Pfaff should pay attention, here) has a dress with the same waist treatment. And it's their "special" pattern for the month that includes directions. NOW I know how to do the skirt. And I will likely make another one armed with that knowledge. And if you're looking at the skirt from January, get the directions out of March and you'll be done in a flash.

I want to RAVE about GLP. As mentioned, I got my first issue only a week after I placed my order. AND, I had asked to start with February, if possible. I received 2 emails apologizing for not being able to do this for me. The second one even provided local places where I might could find a copy (G Street included). This is, seriously, the best customer service I've had in, well, maybe ever. I responded to the second email telling them this. We all need a pat on the back now and then.

My son's birthday was last week. He's 21! Holy cow, how did that happen? He's coming to visit this week and over the weekend. I likely won't get much sewing done, but that's cool. I think we're going to drive up to Philly and see the historic district.

Safety First

Well, I have a whole new reason to wear safety glasses while sewing. I know we've all heard or experienced the dreaded needle break and fly. Personally, while I've broken many needles, I have never had one fly at me. But I have no reason to doubt those who claim it has. Especially after today. No, nothing sharp and scary like a needle. This was in innocent and benign spool of thread. Black. Not a cone, just a spool in plastic. About 1/2 full. The larger size, not the tiny one. I was making a bobbin on my Singer 201 and had the spool on the bottom spindle beside the tension wheel. You can see it in the picture, just below the serial number on the bottom right. My bobbin was in place, the wheel clicked down and the needle disengaged. Just like I'm supposed to do. And I got started on this, pushing the knee lever for all it's worth and the bobbin's winding like the wind. Um literally. It started going so fast that the spool spun itself off the spindle and flew right up and hit my granny, um safety, glasses and ricocheted across the room. I was stunned! Unhurt, but shocked! And, no, the thread didn't break, it just kept winding (a little wonky now) and there was thread all over the place. Looked like a cat went crazy in there. But, if I had been young with good vision and didn't need Target glasses to see my fingernails I'd likely have a black eye. Okay, at least a mark.
The only thing I can think is that the spool is (a) larger than Singer designed these for. Most of the old old spools were small. (b) lighter than Singer anticipated. The old ones were wooden. This was plastic - I just bought it at Hancock's a couple of weeks ago. I also have some Styrofoam ones from the 70's.

In case you're wondering, I was working on yet another pair of BWOF Marlene slacks (Yawn, I know, but the FIT). I've got a business trip coming up I want them for) The flying spool trick was only one of many incidences designed to prevent me from finishing these by tomorrow night.

Update on the sick Pfaff: I heard back (once) from Pfaff. There recommendation was to send it to them (I pay postage and insurance, of course) and for $30 they would evaluate it. Not fix it, not promise to fix it. No promise to honor the warranty. I think it was a canned response and they hadn't even really read my message. I wrote them back that I was hoping for a more proactive, customer oriented solution and recommended they work this out with my dealer, their authorized representative. We'll see, but I think it's a goner.

And in that vein I drove down the Sun/Sew/Vac store. They were having some kind of embroidery classes and the place was packed full of women eating their lunch (Five Guys) all over the machines. So that was a waste of time. **sigh** Pfaff/Bonny's has a week to work this out before I pull out the big guns (a.k.a. DH).

And as a consolation prize I ordered my subscription to BWOF today. Some things just can't be helped. And keep those safety glasses on!

The solution

BWOF #111 from Jan 2009. The one with the pretty cool waist band. That I couldn't get to work. Period. So here's my solution. Not really perfect, but very wearable and didn't become either a UFO or a wadder. It was well on its way to being a wadder as I messed with the flap that was supposed to somehow go OVER the waist banduntil it was a frayed mess. So I cut it off to match the rest of the front and just finished it (does anyone else hear Tim Gunn echoing "Make it work, Make it work"?) .

ETA: Karendee's comment made me realize that it would be a really good idea to show you what the waistband should have looked like according to the designers at BWOF. I bring you BWOF #111 January 2009, technical drawing:Anyway, I still like this one and I really like the fabric and the color. The full photo is closest to the real colors, its almost a navy/black, very dark purple. The picture above is lightened to show the detail, it's no where near that lavendery. The fabric is a (probably? ) rayon blend, not certain since it was from the $2.97/yard table from GStreet (pretty sure about that - Still working on getting a system) It was very soft and drapey, very little body - I did wash it.

For the lining, since the front was so complex, I just made 2 backs and left a walking slit up both sides. I saw this on an Ann Taylor pleated skirt once and liked the solution. And the final pic is the inside top. I still need to hand stitch the lining to the zipper, I'll do that when I hem it. It's prepped to hem, but DH wasn't in a pinning mood tonight (and truth be told, I am tired, too), so I'll try to get to that tomorrow night. I'm not sure if it shows, but there is no need for a hook at the top of the zipper, I placed the zipper so it stops at the very top of the band, so I don't get the gap at the top and the need for the nasty hook/eye. This was all done on my Singer, I'm kind of digging the slidy zipper foot thingy, it works really well, I can get right up on the coils and it makes a nice straight stitch. (Yes, the zipper is navy, it really matches much better in natural lights - none of these colors are this brilliant) .

I'll do an actual review on PR if/when I can get a picture of it on me. For now I'll say that I really like this pattern, but I just never got the waistband. And I fiddled around with it until it was too fragile to fool around with anymore. I may try again sometimes, we'll see. Otherwise the skirt went together very easily, the pleat were a cinch, just be VERY careful and get the 2 center pleats PERFECT at the center, if they're off they'll show on the right side. The 2 center pleats fold so that one goes right, one goes left and they share a center line that has to match up perfectly. The waist band (tricky part aside) was fiddly, but I think a big chunk of that was my very soft fabric.

Whew! A wadder avoided. And I'll have a new skirt on Wednesday morning. Good night.

ETA: photos of it on me: I like the side view best. I should crab walk when I wear this. As a side note, I never tried this on a single time when I was making it. I am that confident (cocky) of BWOF sizing. I put it on for the first time this morning to wear today. The only surprise was the width at the bottom, it's pretty narrow - no walking pleat, so I have to walk like a lady today. No giant steps, "mother may I"? (and NO, I didn't wear that scrunchy in my hair to work, in case you were concerned)

And now, for something completely different

I got home yesterday and tried, again, to finish the waistband on the Burda skirt. I'm still not there, and I may have messed with until it's now FUBAR. It gets one more try before it hits the trash chute. I've learned my lesson about keeping unfinishables.

So, I decided something else was in order. And the camo-green corduroy skirt just isn't calling my name. And yes, I know I said - just a little while ago, in fact that I wasn't interested in quilting. Period. Well, I think I may have lied. Just a little bit. 'Cause this is what I started yesterday evening. And finished this evening. I was so surprised how fast it went together, and how unhard it was. Yes, I am aware that I chose the easiest pattern, short of a square, ever to grace a quilt. And I know it's only 16 blocks. BUT, it was also the first time EVER to do any type of piecing or quilting. And I think it turned out quite well. It's supposed to be "Houndstooth" and it is, but I also think it looks a little swastika-ky - and I'm not thrilled with that. Not perfect, but IT WAS MY FIRST TIME. If you're a follower, you'll recognize the two fabrics as a summer skirt (that I love) and top (that I didn't - and remade into this) and the JCC top - just the leftover, that shirt is still a shirt. I bought the binding, batting, and backing at Hancock's today for 1.95/yard. Used thread from stash. Now, the $64 question: what good is it? If I had a girl, she'd love it for her doll. Maybe I'll send it my niece, she's 2 and will like the crazy colors and has a lot of doll time ahead of her. It was all done my Singer 201, as the Pfaff is still in the hospital and I don't think it would have done half as nice a job. Really. At one point I thought the Singer couldn't do it. My first line of quilting was nasty. Loops on top and bottom, no tension. I was afraid it was too much. I am, once again, amazed at the old Singer company, though. I re-threaded the bobbin and tried again. Perfect. And it stitches so straight! Tra-la-la! Now I'm sure I did all kind of wrong things according my MIL - I pieced and quilted by machine. And I used a purple thread to quilt. But this is a far, far cry from heirloom work, so I just made it fun. And it was. Thinking about doing a livingroom throw next. Something real.

Oh, and my FabricMart order arrived yesterday. That was really speedy, I just ordered on Monday afternoon. I really like the paisley, it is destined to be a dress. It's a little micro-suede-ish, with a tad of stretch.It's darker than I thought, so it will age until fall. Really it's more of a burgundy than purple, quite fallish. The other 3 are bor-ing for pants.

So, what do you think? Seriously. I would like some hints on how to improve my accuracy. When it was all done, my blocks didn't line up well, I think my cutting was off and I'm pretty sure I shaved pieces off my template as I went.

UFO's

I made some real strides in cleaning my life of UFO's. I finished the BWOF skirt that I finished in NOVEMBER. Meaning that, in November, I traced the pattern, cut the fabric, sewed the skirt, put in the zipper, pinned up the hem and gently folded it and put it in the corner. 2 months ago. I've shifted it from corner to corner, refolded it, carried to the living room. But did not hem it. No reason, really. Just didn't do it. Well, Nike, tonight I just did it. Whew!

And I hemmed the skirt I made on Friday. So I have 2 TWO new garments in my closet.

And, the hardest, I tossed the BWOF cross top I started, November? October?, with the Spandex House fabric. It just turned out huge. Part of it was a poor match of fabric to pattern - my fabric was way stretchier than the pattern required. When I tried it on, it just hung off me. I wadded it up and thought about it for a while. I pulled it out Saturday thinking maybe I could put a seam in the back and make it fit (not sure how that was going to fix the baggy sleeves, but I figured I work on that next...), but it appears that I have a sleeve missing. No idea where the thing went. There's no place for it to have gone. I haven't thrown away any scraps (trust me on this), but it's gone. Still I didn't toss it. Even with the sleeve hole that comes down past the bottom of my bra. But tonight I did. I carried it to the trash room and shoved it down the chute. Whew! It just needed to go.

That leaves a Vogue brown velvet top that my machine just didn't like. I got lots of skipped stitches and it just wasn't going together well. I'm going to give it one more try on my Singer - it has a single needle throat plate - before it goes, too. Time to move on. If it ain't fittin', it just ain't fittin'.

Which brings me to the shorts I tossed on Saturday and the hideous Vogue dress from over a year ago. Done.