I Am Still Alive

I have not fallen off the face of the earth! I've actually been sewing for a friend. So busy sewing that I can't take the time to blog about it in fact. I'm making a ginormous fluffy skirt, like a petticoat that will be worn on the outside and keep running into problems like:

• Not calculating enough yardage and having to go back to the fabric store twice more, only to find out they are out of the fabric I need, so none of the fabrics on the skirt now match (it will be "tea stained" in the end to get an antique look, so that part doesn't matter as much as it sounds).

• Being told that I need to have it done by New Years Eve and not being able to sleep for 2 weeks because of that deadline.

• Not calculating enough lace into the picture.

• Not having enough time in the day to complete the thing. At this point, I don't even know if it will be ready by the 31st.

By the way, did I mention that I was only given 3 weeks to do this thing? An impossible task! After that project was given to me, I was asked by someone else to make a Victorian Walking Skirt like the one I have for myself. And I won't get the gal for a fitting until tomorrow...the 29th. Ah, impossibly tight deadines...I should remember never to accept them.

More to come, a couch cover, a quilted pillow, and a dog shirt.

A Cure for Wrinkled Interfacing

I just came across a tip from Off the Cuff about wrinkled interfacing. I thought it was a wonderful tip and had to pass it along. How To Rescue Wrinkled Interfacing!

Review: SAS Fabrics Phoenix, AZ

Review for:

SAS Fabrics

9840 N 19th Ave

Phoenix, AZ 85021-1906

Get Directions

(602) 943-7777

(I am providing the 19th Ave location information because I'm not sure the Indian School location information on Google is correct, although I did go to another location.)

The other day a friend took me to SAS Fabrics in Phoenix, AZ. I went to the 12th St/Indian School Rd location, although they do have more locations in the Valley area (see contact info above). I had never been, but heard stories. You know, the kind you dismiss as nothing but rumor, like Bigfoot.

The outside is uninspiring, with a large sign advertising that they have air conditioning (I thought, what is this, the 50's?), which I suppose in Phoenix, where summer temps can climb to above 110º F for weeks, isn't such a bad thing to advertise. Apparently before they revamped the place (and closed it for a time) there was no A/C, only an evap/swamp cooler, which for those that don't know, only works as long as the humidity is low.

Through the windows you can see piles of fabric in all colors. And then you walk in...

I've never seen the like. JoAnns doesn't even compare! From one wall to the next there was nothing but shelves with rolls of fabric, tables piled with cut pieces and bolts and boxes full of fabrics, trim, lace, ribbon and anything else you can imagine a sewist needing. They sell fabric both by the POUND and by yard. The prices are inbelievable. Beautiful silk for $6.99+ per yard, denim for $2.99 per yard, and suitings of all sorts for $2.99 per pound among other things. Their selection of faux fur was huge, they had a whole wall for upholstery fabrics (although I didn't browse those), fancies of all sorts from spangled to beaded. Cotton, silk, poly, wool and probably linen as well were there. They had boxes full of iron-ons in a great selection and while some were cheesy, there were others that were not. The only thing missing was a huge collection of buttons to browse through, which I was told by the friend that they do have at their 19th Ave location. They did have some buttons, but not a lot.

I was awestruck! It being a weekday and around 3pm as well, the place had a decent amount of people in there shopping, holding rolls of fabric. The cutters tables were very cramped, and they obviously didn't have enough room to roll out some of the large rolls. You took part in helping cut sometimes, as an extra hand to hold something, or to help unroll. After getting your fabric cut, your bag of fabric is placed behind the counter and they hand you a receipt that you then take to the cashier who finds your bag by your reciept number.

They accept most major credit cards and are open from 10am-6pm Monday through Saturday and closed on Sunday.

All in all, I will be back! I went there with a budget of $50 and only spent half on it, and came out very happy. I got 5 yards of a dark gray wool/polyester blend suiting for $2.99 per pound (about 3 pounds total) , 10 yards of some neat trim for $.25 per yard and 4 yards of denim for $2.99 per yard. And those are just "practical" things I bought. I think the next time I go back I'll get something a little more fun. A note though; there are no tags to tell you what the fabric is. You kind of need to know by feel what type of fabric is what and how blends feel as well, and treat later accordingly. It's a little like buying fabric at the thrift store, in that you don't know for sure exactly what you're getting since there are no tags, or labels stating the fabric content.

SAS Fabric gets 5 stars in my opinion. It could be better in indentification and sorting, but why fix something if it isn't broken? My friend called it "our Mood" (but cheaper!). perhaps I was just awestruck, but the place was amazing to me.

iDye Poly, My Experience

A friend wanted something made with black lace, but Joanns didn't have much of a selection. I found some great lace, but it was white. What to do, what to do? I went to the fabric marker/paint section and actually found "over the counter" dye for polyester! Which was what the lace I found was made of. So, eagerly I bought 2 packs. One for practice and one for actual dyeing.

Once I got a pot big enough for the task from the thrift store (enamel, with a lid) I set to work. In the iDye pack there is the colorant and a small package of clear goo that you put into the mix. I got my lace all cut off the batch and some skewers to swish it around with, since I somehow lost my wooden dyeing spoon from my last foray into fabric dyeing. The mix was heating up and I tossed in the lace. The instructions say to simmer the concotion, so I cranked up the heat to about medium high and waited.

As soon as it started heating up the stench of the hot dye was incredible. It was like burned rubber, but boiling burned rubber. It was so overpowering! I ran to open windows and turn on fans, and then back to the pot of dye to see if it was simmering yet. Not yet, so I stirred and tried not to inhale too many of the fumes. I was gagging by then, and usually smells don't really get to me enough that I get all queasy. I ran, again, but this time to find my face mask that I use when I use my dremel, or for drilling type projects. It isn't the cheapest, but it isn't like a gas mask either. Just a surgical type mask with a little filter on the front. Thankfully it helped, but the damage was done, in more ways than one.

After running back from digging through things for the mask, I came back to find the pot angrily simmering away, on the point of boiling. I slapped the lid on (which I hadn't done before then) and stirred a little but upon closer inspection I realized that a fine mist had formed from the boiling/simmer and there were tiny blue dots all over my kitchen. Even across the kitchen! I can only imagine how much of that I inhaled before putting the mask on, which I didn't do until after I scrubbed at the counter tops to see if it would come off. For days afterwards my lungs hurt. I don't think there were any lasting effects, but it was a little scary.

Despite the mask, the smell was just too much. The instructions say to simmer it for 1/2 hour to 1 hour, but after about 25 minutes I had to stop that smell. So, I pulled everything out early, rinsed both pot and lid and lace and then spent the next hour using oxy clean and a scrubbie to get the blue mist off my counters, appliances and sink. I am still finding spots with blue mist all over it, where I didn't see it at first.

But, the lace came out great even though I pulled it out early! There is a faint green tinge to it in places, but for my first experiment with it, I'm happy with the product. At least in terms of how well it works. The stink on the other hand, really turns me off.

Dyed lace. Unfortunately Ed turned the lace with the wrong side up, so you don't get to see the cute ribbon detail on the front, but you get the point.

Next time I will use my little propane powered camp stove and do this outside. There is no way that I will have that disgusting smell in my house again. Oh, and another point: No where in the instructions did it say to ventilate! It said "do not inhale" but that is far different than talking about ventilation. I'm surprised at that.

If you do choose to use iDye Poly, you really, really need to have good ventilation. The smell lingers, but does dissipate with time. I think by the next day it no longer smelled like burned rubber in my apartment.

A Revisit, A Steampunk Halloween and Embroidery

Last Halloween

I made the blouse in this picture last Halloween for a "Steampunk Halloween" with some friends and while I did more of a "proper Victorian lady" than a gal with hiked up skirts, a corset and a gun, which seems to be pretty popular, I still love the costume. Since then I've used it in a photo shoot for the same friend who hosted the Halloween party, for her photography class. In the time since last Halloween I've slowly collected some bits and bobs of brass stampings, some glass gems and some more brass jewelry pieces. I made myself some really cute hair clips and then decided that I should have matching buttons.

Hair clips and fabric covered button

The button in the picture is a fabric covered button with a blue glass stone in a brass setting (which is a little hard to see since it's got beads around it), with a little bead embroidery surrounding it. They all came out great! I used Czech 11's for the beads, in a pearlized white and just bead embroidered around the blue stone using Nymo, which is my personal favorite for anything bead woven or embroidered, although you don't have to use Nymo bead thread. I just happen to have a lot of it since I do bead.

Here is what the whole costume looked like at the photo shoot. Notice that I also have a "parasol". It was really just a blue umbrella that I sewed lace onto in 2 rows.

Photo shoot with new buttons, hair clips and parasol

Once I got home, I had started a little regular embroidery, just to practice. I thought that it would be a great idea to add a little embroidery to my costume. I found some images online (here is a great source, and these are from there) and traced them onto some thin-ish canvas to practice on.

After picking the flowers in blue as my choice I then copied the image to the corners of my collar on the blouse. It took a few days to get done, since I have to take a lot of breaks because of carpal tunnel, but I absolutely love it!

The blue smudges are just transfer paper marks that I haven't washed off yet. They aren't a part of the embroidery.

Close up of collar

I also plan to do some more embroidery on the sleeves or cuffs somehow. But since they are pretty baggy, I'm not quite sure where to place them or if it should be on the sleeves and cuffs, or just the sleeve OR cuff. A conundrum.

Quilts for Charity!

I've mentione before that I was involved in my local Can't Stop the Serenity (or CSTS for short) this year, and we had a blast. I manned the merch table, while Ed did raffle tickets. We both busted butt. You can check out one of his projects for it, some bookmarks here.

But onto the quilts!


Baby Blanket Quilts (with Lily as a model)


Can't Stop the Serenity T-Shirt Quilts

This was my first foray into actual quilt making. All of these quilts are worked with t-shirt knit; actual t-shirts really! There was a lot of leftover merchandise from previous years of Can't Stop the Serenity and a whole tub full of t-shirts. I had a lot of red and black woven fabric donated by Ed's mom to turn into whatever, and some batting and fiberfil (which was used for pillows made out of the shirts as well). Me and a few other gals who helped piece and sew a little, ended up making 5 quilts, although I did all the construction, edging and quilt lines. All sold except one at the charity event on September 19th; one of the square block baby blankets.

I will admit that these quilts could have looked better, but in addition to myself never having made a quilt before, all the other gals had never even sewed! So, considering their crash course and my lack of experience I think they came out fabulously. The only problem I had was trying to do mitered corners on the baby blankets. It was impossible! I still don't know if what I did would be considered mitered corners on those, but I used this tute. I used actual baby blanket binding, the satin type. I just applied it like you would decorative bias binding, overlapping all layers and sewing through everything in one fell swoop.

The regular blankets got lapped corners. It was pretty simple and really I think it's my favorite way of doing this. The edges of those are the same color for the back. The baby blankets both got red backsides. I thought it was a nice contrast with the green/black/white of the front.

It did 3 of the quilts without a quilting foot (the kind that grips the top while the feed dogs grip the bottom) until I realized that I had one stashed away. What a difference it made! I kept getting little puckers, because of the knit fabric front and woven back, on the knit side, and the quilting foot really helped with that.

I also killed 2 of my best sewing machines making these quilts. Both of my Singer Stylists, one that uses cams, died in the process of making these quilts. I am and was so sad about that! One I have no clue what happened to it, but the other I think I can fix. I believe the problem is just an old gear that has been groud down into a flat piece of plastic/rubber. I just don't know how to disassemble the gears for it. There are some guides for a similar type of Stylist I can use for reference, and it's probably what I'll do, but other than just forking over the money to get it fixed, I'm not confident in my abilities. I don't want to make more of a mess than what is wrong now and then have to get all of THAT fixed too.

Now I'm stuck with my cheapy Brother and maybe I can get my Singer 66 up and running if I replace the belt (that I bought and has been sitting here for months). I need a good "jeans making" machine and my Stylists were it. My Brother can NOT handle thick material or topstitching through it.

Underwhelmed with 2009 Fall Collections

I got an email from McCalls saying that their fall collection was ready, so I got all excited and headed over there to check it out especially since JoAnns has a bunch of patterns on sale in the coming days/month. It was rather pitiful IMO, and then I decided to check out some others.

I'm not impressed. Somehow I remember last year had a lot of new stuff, with more than 1 or 2 patterns in each category and a ton of coats and fall clothes. Now I haven't checked out Vogue yet, but out of them all besides Vogue, I think that Butterick has the best selection and "look" going for them this time around. The plus size category, of which I fit into, is sadly lacking everywhere. It is a good thing that I know how to alter regular patterns and have a decent stash. Plus since I live in a pretty temperate climate, I can still wear some favorites year round.

But, other than eye candy drooling I haven't been doing much sewing related things. I sewed my first quilt a few weeks ago for a charity event called Can't Stop the Serenity, made out of old Can't Stop the Serenity merchandise, but sadly I forgot to take a picture. I have a few more to do though, so pics will be taken this time! It wasn't a traditional size, but the one I made (with another member putting the top together) was already spoken for! Some pillows, grocery bags made from t-shirts and a few other crafty projects are also on the list of things to do before the screening, which is our big event. We show a screening of the movie Serenity on the big screen, with a similar showing of Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog. All proceeds go to charity, one being Equality Now and another local charity. Can't Stop the Serenity is a worldwide effort put on by Browncoats everywhere. There is a raffle, the movies of course, merchandise, handmade goodies by people like me, and general fun and merriment.

Shiny!

It's Been A While

Due to a recent vacation and health reasons (this won't be the first time or the last time for a hiatus due to health reasons) I haven't been posting anything on here. Currently I'm rather incapacitated and am not leaving the bed much, but with my trusty and convenient Eee PC laptop I can putter around online from the comfort of my bed, even when I'm too sore to get up.

While on vacation I was given some amazing vintage fabric from Ed's aunt. She said that she's had it for over 40 years but never did anything with it, and since she knows that I like vintage things, fabric and crafty things in particular, she gave it to me, along with some very cool carved coral beads that have an interesting family history that goes with them. I also have a large amount of vintage craft magazines that have some rather interesting projects and pictures in them, that I hope to scan at some point and post about on here. There is one picture in particular that shows a "cuddly" stuffed bear that has the most horrific teeth I've ever seen that I think are glued cowry shells. The grin on this thing is nightmarish! But, that is a post for another time and I will get on with my show and tell for today.

We have a small, foreign car that doesn't have many perks and has pretty small sun visors. Since we also live in the desert and the sun is constantly beating down on us, often when we are out driving around doing errands, we have the sun blazing in our faces despite pulling and maneuvering the sun visors. So, I decided to make some extenders. It was a pretty simple project that has made driving around much more pleasurable.







Basically what I did was measure around the visor and the length of the visor. I added seam allowances and hems for the sides and also added tabs to the edges for easier pulling. The fabric was a remnant that I got in a thrift store bag and is a thick and heavy home dec weight. It is dark blue floral brocade. Ed's side has an open pocket for sticking pens and the gate clicker, which he requested. Since I keep that kind of stuff in my purse I didn't bother with my side of the car (I do not drive). His was a little stiff since I didn't account for the thicker seam allowances by the pocket, and it was requested after I had cut everything out. But, with time the seam allowances have "softened" and it slides nicely for him.

A Quick Tip

I use pastels in art and before I even had transfer pencils I logically turned to my pastel pencils to mark off dots and other marks onto fabric. You do have to test first to see if it will come out, but I use my white pastel pencil more than any other marking tool I have besides chalk transfer papers. It lasts forever because of the pigment saturation and gives a nice solid marking.

Usually the higher the price of your pastel pencil the more actual pigment is in it (depending on the color and if it will come out, that can be a bad thing). I sew a lot of dark colors because that is mainly the colors Ed and I like, so that white pastel pencil gets some use. I also use a blue and a red, although the red is harder to get out and should never be used on white fabric.

Pastel pencils can be found in art supply stores. My favorite is Jerry's Artarama.

Coming up: Car visor covers, my first quilt project and Simplicity cargo shorts for Ed and why their pattern wasn't thought out very well.

When there is no budget...

When there is no sewing budget, not much sewing gets done! It's a lean time for us this summer. I managed to buy a quilting ruler on my birthday but that was about it. I have a great book of quilt blocks, but I just haven't had the mojo to start on one. It is very hard to pick out fabrics for quilting block patterns! I didn't realize that half of the planning of a quilt was picking out the fabrics.

In any case, sewing will resume at some point. No budget and really no inspiration, although there are quite a few things I should get done so I have some summer lounging clothes when it is just too hot to do anything more than watch TV with all the lights off and the ac blasting. Rather than sew my own tank tops, I just went to the big bad Walmart and bought a bunch with what should have been my very limited sewing budget.

I got some absolutely gorgeous knit fabric in what I think is rayon (and one cotton) from Goodwill some time ago. I handwashed and hung dry all of it, and there was some serious yardage in it. I had intended on sewing tank tops with it, but it was so much easier to just buy some. I may pick apart one of the one's I bought to use as a pattern though, since when I went shopping for a knit tank pattern at Joanns, the drawer was an absolute mess and they were out of what I had. Or it was there and I just couldn't find it. I don't have a coverstitch machine so I'm a little leery of doing any binding. I need to read up more on that clear elastic stuff that can be used with sewing knits. Perhaps that is my answer.

No Sewing, A Little Talk

My last project was a plain shirt that I will get pictures of soon, but I've currently been busy making beads. I have a few orders that need to get done and I fell sick the past few days, so it is slowing it even more.

I woke up the other morning with a swollen throat and uvula. Seriously, a swollen uvula (that thing in your throat). It never happened to me before. Now it is less swollen but I'm dragging and all nasal. Woe is me!

But, after all the business of making beads gets done, I have a plan to stencil/paint a Dalek onto some black fabric (white paint with perhaps some red somewhere) to then sew onto Ed's school bag for next semester. He has a fondness for Dr Who and all things Dalek and created his own rendering of it while bored at work one day (shhhh, don't tell his boss). If he'll touch it up a bit so that it can be printed, I'll turn it into a stencil and make something cool. Right now it is his Yahoo avatar, so a bit small.

I tried stencilling onto tshirts a while back and they came out ok. I used regular acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium, but it made the white paint a little less than opaque. One day while wandering the aisles at the craft store I saw some fabric paint and on the back it said it was good for covering black fabric, so I picked it up (with a coupon!). I have yet to try it, mainly from lack of time or space.

Our craft area is turning more into a storage area for art papers, scrapbooking papers which I make cards and bookmarks out of, and other crafty things like the paper cutter, cutting mats and of course the pencils, paints and regular stuff that belongs there. So, it is a bit of a mess and until I can get it clean, or beg it of Ed, this project may have to wait a teeny bit.

Thankfully I have a seperate sewing area, so if I choose to sew in the mean time, I can.

A Pin Cushion For Me

Tired of dragging my tomato pin cushion around with me when I go from my cutting and pinning table to my sewing machine, I went browsing JoAnns the other day for a wrist pin cushion. What a poor selection! Not to mention I figured I could make one for about 50 cents, when they were selling ugly ones for about $8. So I did just that.

From the front: I used some scrap fabric and scrap elastic. I doubled the fabric thinking that it would hold up more. My tomato pin cushion is starting to wear in a certain spot where I stab my pins into, and I didn't want that happening to this one. But, the drawback is that it is almost too tough to poke a pin through easily. I have to touch a finger to the pin cushion to steady it while putting the pin into it. Not a big deal though since sometimes I have to do that with the other one anyways to keep it from sliding away from me.

From the back: Yeah, I know you can see the thread. I wasn't going for looks, just functionality and I have a bunch of little bits of thread on the spools left that need to be used up. I usually use them for the hand sewing that I have to do if it either doesn't show or doesn't matter if it does.

Anyways, what I did was cut out 4 circles of suede and blanket stitched them together. The layers of suede are a safeguard against poking myself. The leather should stop it if it gets down that far. Then, I sewed the suede circle onto the pin cushion by tacking down around the blanket stitch, going through a little leather if I could. Finally I sewed the elastic onto the pin cushion and sized it to my left wrist (I'm a righty and pin with my right hand), gave it a couple zigzag stitches to secure the elastic and I was done!

So, my first and very own handmade wrist pin cushion! It is coming in very handy and I've already used it several times.

Jeans, For Her

I finished my jeans, at last! At last! I finally dragged them out and did the hems. But rather than have Ed help me do the hems I just measured from an existing pair that I have that fits well and used that to find the best inseam measurement. Quick and dirty I suppose. But, it came out well.

The pattern is McCalls 5142:

I used red for the topstitching. I've always worn jeans with the typical yellowish/gold topstitching thread and wanted something different, especially since I saw that there was a nice variety of colors to choose from. So red it was!

The photos are a little washed out, but it is because we took them outside in the blazing sunlight. The sun here is intense! The denim is darker in real life than in the pictures; a very navy denim color.

Front


Side


Back

I also realized as I was doing the hems that I didn't topstitch the outside seams. I don't know if I forgot to do that, or if the instructions skipped it. Next time I will topstitch the outside seams, but for this pair, they are done!

As for the pattern, I think it is an excellent pattern. It shows you how to fit yourself and gives ample seam allowances (I believe 1" seam allowances) for the "perfect fit". Seriously, I will be using this pattern again and again. Paired with the book, Pants For Real People, by the same people that created the pattern, I think that this will be a pattern that I turn to over and over again when I want or need a new pair of jeans. And since I live in jeans, but it is hard to find the right size, this is a perfect pattern for me. Good job McCalls and the Palmer/Pletsch team!

Home Dec - Table Cover

I don't do much home dec sewing, mainly because I'm not into interior design and whatnot. We like a modern look and that doesn't use things like ruffles and frilly fabrics. But, we acquired a table from the side of the dumpster (yes, we "dumpster dive", although rarely do we actually get in one unless there is something awesome in there). We live in a college aged apartment complex and we've found that college aged people love to throw perfectly fine things away. Actually most of the furniture in our apartment is used or from collecting things that are on the side of the trash. The folding table I use for sewing is one of those items!

In any case, we got this cute, retro looking table. It was absolutley filthy with old wax from candles all over it, along with the dust that any outdoor item here in the desert accumulates. After a through cleaning and some elbow grease, the table emerged clean but with a few scars on it. Since the gouges were a little large, but didn't actually go into the table (just into the veneer) I decided to make a table cover for it.

But, the table is round. That means math doesn't it? Yikes, I hate math. But I was determined, so I went in search of the formula to find circumference. Measuring the diameter was a simple as measuring from one end of the table to the other. Entering that measurement into the equation gave me the circumference so I would know how much fabric I would need.

Keeping with the retro feel, even though I will be covering the table and the retro details I decided to give the table cover cording and rick rack. But since I had no cording that was as thick as I wanted I had to make my own. That was only a matter of covering the cording with bias tape, a very simple task.

This is the finished result:

The covering is a tad large and the cording doesn't sit at the very edge in some places, but that was from my late night sewing job rather than from the measuring. There are a few places where the cording slipped to the edge of the fabric circle because I didn't use enough pins. My bad. But, it is still perfectly functional and only I will notice that flaw.

The only problem now is that when you sit in the chair at the right there is a hummingbird feeder above your head, so our little hummingbirds won't feed because we are so close! Note: the chair to the left is the chair that our dog lays in when she suns herself, isn't she just the queen? She has her own THRONE.

Pants For Real People - Like Me

I've been sewing jeans on and off for a little while. I've completed mine and they fit ok, although I think I need to take in the waist a little. I didn't account for the stretch in the denim. Those STILL need to be hemmed though.

But I also completed Burda 7733 for Ed.

The jeans came out ok. Those too need to be hemmed! Can you tell it is one of my least favorite sewing activities? I didn't pattern fit him, figuring that he is pretty normally shaped. When he tried the jeans on they were skin tight in the thigh and the crotch was so tight it looked uncomfortable. The waist is really low on him as well, but I think it is because he has such a nice behind (lol, he's going to hate me for writing that!) and it isn't flat like most men. I'm not so great at altering pants since I haven't made that many, so with Barnes and Noble gift cards in hand (that we got free through Mypoints) we journeyed to B&N only to find that they didn't have Pants For Real People. So, off we went to another B&N only to find there that all they had was Fit For Real People, which I already have, and love.

We ended up ordering it online and having to pay for shipping. Why do I hate to pay for shipping so much? It seems to take away from the fun of using a free gift card. But, I digress. After reading some of the book, I realized that I needed to adjust the crotch by sewing it deeper. I also ended up adjusting the thigh area, although when I originally sewed it, I had trimmed the seam allowances (which I shouldn't have done in the first place, but hey, it happened) so I didn't have much to work with. Because of that, some of the overlocked edge shows where I came thisclose to the edge of the fabric. I don't know how long the seams will last on this pair of jeans, but I can always sew Ed another pair can't I?

Once the jeans are hemmed, which I hope to get done this weekend for both of us, I will post pics. In the mean time I suggest checking out Pants For Real People if you are planning on making a pair of jeans. I really like the idea of pattern fitting, although it is a slow and time eating process, but once it is done, you have a great altered pattern to work from.

JoAnns (yes, I know some hate the place, but it is one of the few places to buy fabric locally) is having a 50% off sale on denim on Sunday I think, so we're going to hit that and I'll have another 3 yards to make Ed a better fitting pair of jeans. He will be going through a pattern fitting, of that I have promised (or threatened? I will be wielding sharp pins...) because I think we will get the best fit that way.

All in all I think Burda 7733 is a pretty good pattern. The instructions were relatively easy to follow, they include seam allowances and what I created looked just like what the pattern looked like, with a few topstitching alterations on my part.

Now I just need to work on that topstitching...

Vogue 1107, Got It!

I got a steal on the Vogue dress 1107 that I spotlighted in this post. The description says it is a lined, A-line dress, fitted at the bust, above knee length. It has edge stitched princess seams, welt pockets with flaps, pleats with underlays and bound buttonholes. It says it is "advanced", but never to shy away from a pretty pattern I think I can tackle it.

I will probably do it in a black as the pattern front shows, mainly because I am partial to black. I don't have the fabric yet and may save a bit so that I can get better materials to work with. It suggests Peau de soie, lightweight garbardine and shantung with china silk for lining. Since I sew on a budget I probably won't be getting silk, but some compatible fabric with the same drape. Most likely I'll sew this first in a poly satin of some sort or find a lightweight garbardine as suggested. Lining will be poly, no doubt.

I don't know when I will get around to sewing this but it only goes up to a size 20 and I'm a 22 so I will have some alterations to do on it to grade it up to my size.

I also managed to pick up another 3 yards of denim to make another pair of jeans. I know I have yet to post about them, but it is coming up. I still have yet to hem them.

Fun with Boxers!

Ed loves it when I make him boxers. It means he doesn't have to shop for them, lucky man! Since the pattern I use only uses 1 yard of fabric sometimes he gets rather interesting (or ugly!) boxers. 2 of these 3 pairs are pretty fun. Apples and airplanes; what more could a man want?
Kwik Sew 1672 which I ordered off eBay and is probably OOP now. It looks like it is from the 80's truth be told. They also have a "high cut" version that has a rounded hem rather than a straight. Not that Ed would ever be caught dead in a pair like that, so that version doesn't ever get made.

The pattern is extremely fast to make and you can do it assembly line if preferred, although I do them one at a time. The elastic waist is pretty fun to do, although the first line of stitching can be tricky, which it wouldn't be if I pinned the elastic more than I do. The seams are 1/4 except for the waist and I use my Singer Tiny Serger (just an overedger really it doesn't do any cutting) for all the seams to that they will stand up to the abuse that undies can get. The fly stitching can be a pain, but really I'm not that accurate with it. I could do better on the fly stitching, but seriously they are just boxers so why bother? I hate unpicking, so if the stitching line goes a little further than it should who is going to notice? The only person looking at Ed's boxers is Ed and myself, lol!

For now my cutting tables (card tables) are on loan from a charity yard sale we did last weekend for a group of Firefly/Serenity fans that we belong to. So, I can't cut out anything else for a few days and my rivets still haven't arrived. I'm project-less, egad!

Some Actual Sewing For a Change

I've actually been sewing! I've worked on a great pair of jeans that have yet to be hemmed and am working on another pair for Ed. We bought some rivets for them online and are just waiting for them to arrive. Until then the project sits undisturbed.

But, I sewed my butt off last week and made 4 little girls shirts for my neice. Her mother commented to me that she could never find school shirts that fit her (she is in between a size 1/2 and 1 in kids - sewing pattern size that is). She is 3 years old and in some pre-k program at her big brothers school and they require all children to wear uniforms. Either tan or navy shorts with a plain colored shirt. Not terribly restricting but everything that comes in an XS for the girl is always in a print of some sort. So she doesn't have a great variety of school shirts to wear.

Well, I've fixed that. The shirts will go out in the mail probably this week after I put the buttons on the red shirt. I made 4 shirts, all in different colors and using either large scraps or one yard-1 1/2 yard pieces. I guess this could be considered a one yarder project (in fact, so are the boxers I did that are coming up next):

View B

View A sleeves, view B collar

View A

View B

The pattern for the shirt is New Look 6880. It has two views, one for a girl with the peter pan collar and puffy, gathered sleeves and one for a boy with the traditional collar and regular set in sleeves. On one version of mine (the red) I switched things up a bit and gave her the regular collar with the puffy, gathered sleeves.

The collar in view A is a pain to make, which is why I made more of the collars in view B for most of her shirts. They were extremely quick to make and simple. There was no interfacing to be cut anywhere and all the facings were of plain fabric, which gives for a softer look and feel than collars for adults in a similar pattern. View A also has you insert elastic into the sleeve hem, forming a casing. Which isn't a big deal, it actually makes that sleeves bigger so they fit around the arm on my sewing machine, which view B sleeves do not.

All in all I give New Look 6880 a thumbs up. I can't comment on the sizing since I don't have the neice here to try it on for me, but if it does run big I can always go down a size on the next batch of shirts since I think that this pattern is going to be a staple in her wardrobe for school.

Up next...boxers. Stay tuned.

Fabric Splurge

I don't often buy retail fabric. I sew on a budget and most of my fabric comes from thrift stores. But, I've gone into a certain "large chain store" fabric department and touched this stuff every time I've seen it. I finally broke down and bought 4 yards of it:



I figured that 4 yards would be enough to make a long skirt or short dress (or a couple short things), although I'm thinking more along the skirt line since I'm not a very "dress" person. I like my 2 piece outfits better than a 1 piece dress. I think I'm a little neurotic that way. Actually I'm a jeans and shirt gal and I think having 2 pieces rather than 1 keeps me in my comfort zone. Which, I don't like to leave often, lol!

I wear a lot of muted colors. Or as I like to call them, "non-colors". Black, gray, dark reds and blues. I will also wear pastels if they aren't too bright, like in this fabric. This fabric gives me a little cheer to my normally toned down look. I'm terrified of bright colors in the yellow, orange and bright red range.

I got this orange/peach sweater once from my mother because she said that I never wore color. It was hideous. The sweater itself was cute and in a trendy style but the color...oh the horror! I'm also very pale and freckly and this color was NOT a good color for me. I know my mother was only trying to get me out of my box so to speak, but she could have asked me what color range I would wear if I was going to wear bright colors. I think ever since then I've been very stubborn about letting color into my daily wardrobe (that story took place probably over 10 years ago). And yes, I did give the sweater a try. I wore it twice, once on the day I got it and again at a family function. It was "that" sweater to me.

So perhaps in the next few months (I sew slowly and like to procrastinate) I'll have a pretty little piece to show using this fabric.

Intermission - The Good, The Bad and The Hideous

I'm a slacker, I admit it. I promised another post about the shorts that gave me fits, but I just haven't gotten around to taking pics of it (what I really mean is I haven't bothered Ed to take them for me; he's got a lot of school work this week). But yesterday I got an email from Vogue Patterns showing the recent stuff they have out and all I have to say is:

What were they thinking?


This is Vogue 1116. The top isn't so bad, but those pants. Those pants! Is it supposed to be a cross between those parachute pants worn by MC Hammer in the 80's, and some sort of weird chef outfit? I'm seriously puzzled over this one.

They have an asymmetrical top pattern, Vogue 8582 that is pretty cute. The line drawing looks bizarre, but shown in fabric it has a nice flow to it.



And I do really like this dress, although I'm not much of a dress person. I may even see if my local JoAnns has it on their next Vogue pattern sale day (which is coming up I think):


Vogue 1107. I think the pleats in the skirt are really cute and I like how it has sleeves. I've got some arms on me, so I like patterns that help me hide them. There are a lot of sleeveless patterns out there that are cute, but I just like my sleeves I suppose. I know I could adapt a sleeve for a sleeveless pattern, but frankly it is too much work unless I really love the dress. and then I'd probably just bite the bullet and wear it sleeveless.

But man those pants just get me. I can't imagine wearing them, or making them. I'm sorry if some of you out there like those pants from 1116, but I just can't stop laughing!

Lots of Sewing! Part 2

Gray Knit Shirt and Pinstripe Pants

That is my little helper, Lily, in the bottom left. She really wanted to be a part of all the excitement!

The shirt's first incarnation was in the form of an ugly blue polyester. Like the polyester from the 70's, although I think it was a relatively recent style. In other words, cheap. I got it at the thrift store for about $6 and took it home to demolish it and pick apart all the seams. I created a pattern from the pieces and first (stupidly) used a knit without the same amount of stretch. Obviously it didn't fit right, which I could tell from the start of the fitting process. I found the gray stretchier knit and gave it a second try. Perfecto!

It crosses across the breasts, like it's a wrap style. The midriff on the original had the grain running crosswise, and I liked the detail, so I did the same. All in all it shows a bit of cleavage, and you do need to watch your position depending on what you're doing. But, for normal movement it doesn't gap or show any bra, so I'm happy with it.

The pants are Simplicity 2860 "Amazing Fit" pants.

They give 3 options to choose from, depending on your body type; "slim", "average" or "curvy". Obviously I had to use the "curvy" option. Overall I liked the pattern. It enabled you to really make a perfect fit in the waist, crotch and butt. The instructions were great and they make it so your have a 4 piece waistband which helps you fit your waist better. What I didn't like was that the pant legs were SO WIDE! Like, flopping when you walk wide. As you can see from my body type, I'm big in the middle and thin at the legs. I had to chop off a significant amount from the side seams to get it to look right. They assume, like most patterns do, that if you're large in the bust or waist, you need large in the shoulders or legs. Not true!

But despite that, you didn't need any special books to help fit; the instructions covered what you needed to know for the most part. The rest is pretty intuitive if you've sewn a bit.

One last shot of the pants, a close up of the zipper and closure. The pants use a regular zipper insertion, which IMO goes faster than something like a side zip on a dress. It also uses a button and hook and eye closure. I didn't have the larger kind at the time and used a smaller hook and eye, but I actually like it better I think. It gives a more secure closure for me, as opposed to the kind you just slip into the "eye". Plus it gives a little satisfying click when you secure it!

So, my final decision? I will be making both the pants (with thinner legs!) and the shirt again! I really love the fit of the pants and may fiddle with it a bit and add pockets or something next time.

I wish I could find better knit fabrics here. I may have to break down and order something online, but I have reservations about that since I LOVE to fondle fabrics and it really does help with the decision process.

Stay tuned, there will be more! I have that pesky pair of short to post about that I mentioned in a previous post and another shirt from a Simplicity pattern.

Lots of Sewing! Part 1

I have a huge update to do and here is the first parter:

The Little Girl Dress



I made this dress for my niece, before I left on a rather short-lived vacation. I ended up coming home early, but I was still able to give her the dress. This is a size 3, although she is a little bit smaller than that, but the pattern didn't go to a size 2. It's McCalls 3949 View C. It is lined in the bodice, and has a petticoat in a contrast color. Ed actually picked out the dress fabric which is a polka dot chiffon. The lining fabric and what was used for the petticoat was simple broadcloth.
Ed also picked out the buttons:



The ruffle took the longest to do, but it was just from the quantity of fabric used rather than it going wrong or anything. It actually went rather quickly since I used a technique I learned on Sewing With Nancy tv. You take a thick button or upholstery thread and do a small zig zag over top of it, without catching it in any stitching. Then once you're done you use that to pull along to gather the ruffle. It was the first time since I watched it that I was able to use it. It came out perfect the first time!

Has It Been That Long?

I've been absent a while. I have been having some medical problems, some from my recent surgery and some totally unrelated. It's been hard for me to get around, but I did manage to sew a few things and will show them in my next post. Ed is a much better photographer than I am, so I try and get him to take the pics.

I will say that I worked on Simplicity 2860 and 2705.

On the pants pattern it went along very well but I came to a few problems with 2705, the shorts view in the middle. That one made me want to scream, not from difficulty but because there was an error with my pattern pieces. I don't know if it's in them all, or just mine but the waistband was too short for the waist. I made some alterations, but only by adding a little to it, so it shouldn't have been short at all if I did that, even if I messed up by NOT adding to the increase to the shorts pieces. I ended up adding the width of the pocket to the waistband (it's an overlapping waistband that secures on the side). Obviously, Simplicity neglected to do that to the original piece.

Pictures will come soon! I'm also in the process of remaking a very, very nasty polyester shirt that I found at the thrift store. I took out the seams and made pattern pieces of them. I've actually made most of the shirt but realized too late that I needed a stretchier knit than I had used. I've pulled out one with the same stretch as the original, so my next one should turn out better. The shirt itself, originally, cost about $6, but $6 for a pattern isn't too bad!

I'm Not Gone, Just Forgotten

I'm still around. My "almost" MIL is still staying with us and making use of the new sewing machine, while I learn to crochet and buy more fabric (well, thrift store fabric and Jo-Ann sales). It's about the only getting out I do while I recover from back surgery.

Speaking of which, I'm healing. Having to deal with gross wound care that makes me queasy and taking it easy mostly. No sewing done. Leaning over and keeping the foot to a pedal sounds easy but when you've had your back opened up, it doesn't sound like something fun to do. Nope, not just yet anyways. Plus there are the heavy duty meds and I think it even says on the bottle not to use heavy machinery...which isn't really a sewing machine, but with that sharp needle just sitting there waiting for my innocent finger to come close, I think it's better that I refrain from using it for a bit.

I have a no bending rule, so I got one of those hand-held gripper things. It's a lifesaver! It can't pick up anything heavy but for picking up something dropped (or stored) on the floor, it's great. Helps for reaching something on the top level of the cabinet too.

As for the crochet, I have completed a small purse using half double crochet and am finishing up the strap for it. I'll take pics (which means Ed will take pics) of it and post about it soon. While it's not sewing exactly, it's closely related since it does at least use fibers of some sort. It's my first ever crochet piece and I think it's pretty cool. My first knitted piece was a scarf, and this is just a teeny bit more advanced than that, so I feel all kinds of proud of myself.

Sewing Hiatus

I am going into an involuntary sewing hiatus. Involuntary because I don't want to be in it! But, alas, I have had not fun and painful back surgery and am recovering. That means long long days of being in bed and you certainly can't sew in bed with a sewing machine! The sewing machine is getting plenty of use with my almost MIL though. She's been sewing aprons, a doll and a dinosaur, and is working on a scrap quilt for each of the dogs. She also has a wardrobe to create. At the moment I am sewing vicariously through her.

I had all the good intentions in the world to get pictures taken of me in my new skirts from last month, but then I broke our bed and we had to hunt for a new one the day before surgery. You can't have a broken bed when you are about to have back surgery!

I am teaching myself how to crochet though. I've known how to knit for some time but it takes forever to knit something. I have heard that crochet is faster and figured that being bed-ridden was a good time to learn. My first project will be a small purse with a flap that uses half double crochet. I practiced single, double and half double all last night, so I may tackle my project today if I am feeling up to it.