JillyBeJoyful

The Soho Robe

2012-02-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

After the long, long search for a nice, thick, juicy cotton terry to replace my old worn out robe....

Yes, I've been wearing it for that many years,
and yes, it's really that worn :(

...I finally gave up & accepted the inevitable: if I wanted thick & juicy, and a color &/or pattern I liked, it was probably going to need to be a poly fleece. Fabric Mart, and Marc Jacobs sherpa fleece on (ridiculously cheap) sale, combined with a yummy cotton flannel from my local fave, Stonemountain & Daughter, along with a pattern that is a far distant cousin to your usual boxy robe, and I was, finally, on the road to replacing that beloved but far too funky tattered creature I've been wearing.

Some notes on the Marc Jacobs faux sherpa fleece (since FM had 1000s of yards of the stuff, I know there are are a few of you out there who transported some of it into your stash):

1. Note that it does have a nap, so bear this in mind when you're laying out your pattern for cutting.
2. It's thick, but the backing is not a super tight weave, and it may not be as warm as you think it is. It isn't warm jacket material by itself.
3. The fleece side is thick enough that it warrants clipping off the fleece from the seam allowances. Be prepared to sweep and vacuum. A lot.

Clipped Seams

A little pile of fluff.
That gets everywhere.
EVERYwhere.

4. The backing collects the fleece bits, and mine was already pilling a bit after being handled, so I would recommend lining whatever you're going to use this for.
5. All of the above aside, it's really pretty stable and easy to work with.

The Sewing Workshop Soho Coat Pattern. Love. LOVE! It's been in stash for awhile, waiting for just the right time/fabric/inspiration - who woulda thunk that it would come in the guise of a robe? Actually, I do plan on making a raincoat (and you'll be hearing more about that, soon....I'm already scratching my head in confusion regarding the initial plan....) so this robe was the perfect practice piece. Especially since the only choices in actual robe patterns are the classic boxy rectangle with a sash, aka, the insta-20-pound weight gain illusion, or the classic poufy sleeved, lacey fronted, shaped vintage look that's a little more suited to swishing around the house with teacup in hand than it is for keeping one's body warm. Don't get me wrong, I have a pattern for this look, and was this close to using it until I hit on the Soho Solution.

I hit a few potholes along the way (of course). I bought the end of a bolt of flannel, and thought it would be enough. It was, but it required cutting two sleeve halves for one of the sleeves. But no one will know, because I'm not telling, and I know you won't :)

I ignored the side seam pocket instructions in favor of patch pocket, which I sort of randomly cut. And sewed. And lined. And then decided the shape was all wrong so I recut. And re-sewed. And re-lined. And added piping. Just because, we wouldn't want this to be TOO easy, would we?

First Pockets
Boring.
And wrong.

Second Pockets.
Cut to echo the lower curve.
Much better. :)

I have a confession. In spite of the fact that I'm really good at solving certain kinds of complex puzzles, there's something about multiple layers of flat fabric that need to be sewn and turned
so that A ends up facing North while B turns a corner and faces Southwest and C brings it all together with a little whipstitch and a turn of the wrist that creates 3D magic that totally and utterly escapes me. This is why I will never be a flat pattern maker. I have lengthy head-scratching moments with what is probably the simplest little task for so many of you. Things like how to place the piping in a lined pocket. How hard can this be??? I actually managed to sew it up wrong before I figured it out. Am I the only one who has to jump through this many hoops to figure something new out?

Correct placement of the piping

Sewing the 3 layers together (lining, piping, fleece) using a zipper foot

I took this picture to remind me to mention 3 things.
One is how pleased I am with my new ham stand!
My Reliable V100 prefers to do its pressing on a flat surface,
and resting the nose of the ham on the stand gave me a nice flat place to press open a seam. :)
Danged if I can remember the other 2 ???
Give me some time.....

I also made a belt, but it completely destroyed the lovely Soho lines, so, in spite of how much I like the ease of just tossing on the robe on a chilly morning & taking a quick wrap of the belt, I thought maybe...just maybe...I could handle the horrendous hassle of actually buttoning a button in the morning. I mean, it's all about style, right?

I had this rather beat up old button that came off a vintage swing coat - missing bits, lucite (?) kind of scratched, but I hung on to it anyway, and decided this was the place to dress it up & use it.

Note: The glue pictured turned out to have lost its virility.
After a couple of failed attempts, the nasty, toxic E6000 did the trick.
Sometimes you just have to bend the (ecological) rules a bit *sigh*
I had some seed beads (from my beading days) in the perfect color, and a couple of pinkish buttons from stash - the magna-tac glue ate the color off the first one.

Stringing the seed beads onto thread
This is the nice thing about having had multiple artsy-craftsy forays in life,
you end up with all sorts of tools & goodies that surface to serve later on :).

The finished button

After discarding a number of buttonhole thoughts, I decided to use my new favorite method - the one I've dubbed The Koos Buttonhole, as used on The PeonyVest. It's sort of like the Spanish Snap buttonhole, but not quite. I decided to do a simple round shape - here's a picture-heavy tutorial:

Two Circles.

Stitched around edge, RS together, leaving an opening to turn.

Turned, with opening slip-stitched closed.

Buttonhole area marked with basting stitches

Right Side of Buttonhole fabric pinned to Inside of Robe

Buttonhole area stitched onto robe, following basting stitches

Deep breath taken, and Slash Surgery performed.
Slice down the center, then make a V-shaped cut at each end of the slash,
clipping exactly to the corners of the stitching,
as in cutting a welt opening.

Pull the buttonhole fabric through the slash, to the RS of the robe.

Topstitch around the buttonhole slash, and around the edges of the circle
stitching through all layers.
Done!

Button in place

The beauty of this method is that you can create any shape you want - sky's the limit! Unlike a bound buttonhole, you end up with a bit of a gap in the slashed area, but in a case like this, it isn't even noticed because of the thick fleece.

Back to the robe.

Because of the lining, I basically sewed up two whole coats. I cut the lining just to the edge of the folded sections along the front opening and the hem, serged the lining edges, and then sewed it in place with topstitching. I also tacked the lining to the outer robe in several key spots, like crossing seams at the neckline, armscye, etc.

Pattern & Construction Notes:

A nice note about the pattern instructions is that you are given a 3/4" SA for all of the flat-felled seams, so you don't need to remember to add extra while cutting. I REALLY appreciate touches like that!
The pattern runs large (par for the course for Sewing Workshop patterns, in my experience). My measurements put me on the larger side of Medium, but I cut a Small. I'm still debating whether or not to cute an XS for my raincoat, because the Small is plenty roomy.
The hood & fronts are one piece (two, actually - one for each side), and the shoulders are actually formed by a V shape that is slashed into the pattern. Doing something like a narrow shoulder, or forward shoulder adjustment (usual for me) on this pattern is beyond the functioning ability of my brain. (see notes above about head-scratching on flat patterns)
I shortened both the coat length and the arm length by about 1". At 5'3", this length is fine for a long robe, but I'll need to do more for an out-and-about coat.
The lines on this coat are, imho, to die for! I think it would be flattering on a lot of figure types - you really don't need to be long & lean like the pattern illustration for these lines to work!

The finished piece:

The belted option - I haven't decided whether to add belt loops & use this option...
What do you think?

Gratuitous cute kitty pic

Next up: The Soho RainCoat. I think. The pleated fabric is already making me chew my nails, and I haven't even cut it or sewn a test swatch yet. My next post will more than like have nothing but questions!

That Ubiquitous Burda T-neck, Take 5

2012-01-29T17:00:00.000-08:00

The TNT that I've not only made the most versions of, but also wear the most, is that ubiquitous Burda turtleneck/funnel neck T from September 2010. The weather is calling for more of these, so I whipped one up last week out of a wool viscose blend knit that I ordered from Emma One Sock over a year ago, and liked it so much I got more! It's the same fabric I made this Decades of Style shawl from. And I still have a bit more to dip in to when the next pattern calls out to use it :)

The only thing I don't like about this pattern is the way the neck gets all floppy in your usual drapey knit, after a bit of wearing. So I decided to try some interfacing.

I used Pam Erny's pro-tricot deluxe interfacing, installing it in the neck area.

Here's the neckline once it's folded over: (Note: my previous post, linked above, details all of the construction notes on this T)

You don't want to pull this T over your head when your hairdo is all poufed & sprayed & done up just so.....oh wait....that's never me anyway.... because it is a tad bit tight with the interfacing, but it does give the neckline that extra bit of oomph that keeps it from getting super saggy. I have enough super saggy developing around my neck as it is, I don't need any help from my clothes, thankyouverymuch...

The wearing of the green:

LOVE this fabric - it's super lightweight, and the background is even a little bit sheer, but it's incredibly warm - perfect for the Bay Area temperature variations.

Here's to TNTs! Especially the quick & easy ones :D

When I uploaded the pics for this, I found this shot in my camera. I did not take it. (unless I did so accidentally) It was just there, and it was so intriguing that I had to keep it. It's the light coming through the cut glass window in my front door - it always gives an interesting little light show when the sun shines through.

Hopefully this evening I will start cutting out my snuggly new robe!

Plans, Hams and a Glockenspiel

2012-01-28T01:15:00.000-08:00

I've been sooooo good about not buying fabric this year (yeah, I know, we're only in month #1, but still.....), so I felt justified in finally treating myself to a ham stand. Oh yes, and a new ham to go with it. I already had a ham (vintage, practically free, & recovered by me) but it was sort of an awkward size, and I REALLY wanted a ham stand. I hadn't forgotten the rave review that shams gave last year to stitch nerd, and then Pam recently gave her new ham & stand from Stitch Nerd another rave review, and that pushed me over the edge. You get to choose your own fabric! You get personalized service! And after a very short wait, you get your own custom ham! Her prices are very good. The stand is pressboard; maybe not as pretty as a hardwood piece, but it looks very sturdy and I expect it to give me years of use. The ham is VERY well made, and you get a choice of wool on one side, cotton on the other, or any combo you want, with quite a few lovely fabric choices.

I'm beyond delighted with everything about this. My old ham is on the right - flatter, wider, & shorter. The new one is more rounded, longer (12") and, well, prettier ;-) They will both have a place in my ironing regime. And you know what? With goodies like this, I actually LIKE ironing more than I ever did before! What I really like is actually the result that consistent, conscientious pressing gives.

And since we're on the subject of not buying fabric, I'm doing some serious stash shopping instead, and starting to make some actual plans that involve matching fabrics to patterns. Everything is subject to change, of course, but this is definitely helping me to realize that I don't need ANY MORE FABRIC. Not right now, anyway. Except for that organic cotton I bought for the baby gift. And the flannel I got today for my winter robe. Because it doesn't count if it's necessary to complete a project that is going to be worked on immediately. Right?

To help keep me on track, here's The Plan:

#1. I need a new robe. I've needed a new robe for more years than I care to mention, but finally, FINALLY, I found the right fabric - that yummy Marc Jacobs fleece that FabricMart had about 1000 yards of (they still have some as of this writing), with a flannel lining. Toasty warm. Crazy as it may sound, I'm going to use the SW Soho Coat as my base pattern. Partly because I am LOVING my little hoodie bed jacket, so a robe with a hood sounded like a good idea, and partly because I have another fabric that I want to make into a raincoat, using the Soho pattern, so this robe will be my practice run.

Add caption

#2 The Soho Rain Coat. This fabric was a score from Fabrix (thanx shams!!!) - Yummy, rich color, incredibly fun pleating, and probably a b**ch to sew, but I'll find out. If it works, it should be AWEsome!

#3. I think I've finally worked up the courage to cut in to this frabjous Chanel boucle that I splurged on at Emma One Sock, shortly after I re-started sewing. I've been looking for the right pattern (along with the courage-gathering), and I think I finally found it in this Loes Hinse....with some modifications, including shortening it to sweater length. I'm trying to work with more blues, to expand the blues I already have, so this will be a nice wardrobe expander :

#4. It's the year of pants. One down, 11 to go. This is the pattern I'm choosing for this yummy wool blend, that I also used on The Koos Coat. This is actually the 3rd piece in my Winter 6PAC, so it also will be a wardrobe expander.

#5. More pants. Style Arc's Jilly Jeans, because of COURSE I need to make Jilly Jeans!

#6. Continuing to make what I actually need, the wintery California chill is bringing cardigans up to the top of the list. This is a possibility for this Jalie pattern, but I'm not too sure about the fabric yet:

This should keep me busy for a few weeks. Yeah, I know I'll get sidetracked, but at least I do have A Plan!

And what does a glockenspiel have to do with all of this? Absolutely nothing. But I put it in the title because I just couldn't resist using the word along with Plans and Hams, so here's a picture of one:

I must admit that creating a plan like this (whether or not I actually follow through with it) not only helps me to solidify my options, but it sort of makes me feel all grown up & stuff....it feels pretty good, in a responsible sort of way.

Do you play with storyboards, or match fabric swatches to patterns, or pictures like I did above? Or do you work with one pattern & buy the necessary fabric as you need it? Or do you just live your life being distracted by bright shiny objects and bring home whatever speaks to you at the moment? I know we're all different in our approaches, and I know my own propensity to wander off at the sight of today's fancy, but the end result of actually having something practical that I will wear simply can't be beat, and I'm finding that having something resembling an actual plan helps make that happen. What works for you?

Sewing for Baby [EEK!]

2012-01-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

The time has come...the babies in my life are starting to have babies! Well...one of them is, anyway. (ETA: To be clear, this is not my grandbaby on the way - I'm content to "adopt" other peoples' kids....best of all worlds, imho) ;-) Baby shower time! Cute baby gifts! Adorable baby clothes! What should I get???

And then it dawned on me...Hello? I can SEW something! And then....

Panic mode sets in.

Now, what on earth is so frightening about sewing for a baby? I'm sure Freud would have something to say about that, and I have thoughts, but perhaps they're better left alone for this blog's purposes...

Fabric choice - WTF is it with all the warning labels? Cute baby flannel prints all say "Not suitable for children's sleepwear"....huh? So if I make something out of this and Baby catches fire it's my fault? Eek! Research about fabric flammability & laws left me with the following conclusions:
1. The sleepwear that is worn right next to baby's skin should be tight = no airflow between skin & fabric.
2. If you buy RTW sleepwear, polyester (that can, presumably, MELT onto baby's skin), is safer (translation = 'legal') than yummy, soft, natural cotton. All righty then.
3. I think that the laws currently in place were determined at a time when more people smoked, & left their ashtrays in baby's room (seriously???) & other fire hazards were more prevalent than today.
4. I'm sewing baby clothes out of cotton, not polyester, thank you very much. Perhaps I'll give them with a warning "This is not flame-proof, so please don't set your baby on fire while she's wearing it." I should be covered, right?

After the research phase, the fabric choice was easy, based on their registry choices. Natural color, organic cotton. With thanks to all the sewing moms in cyberworld, I decided to make a baby sleep sack. Or sleeping bag. Or bunting. Or whatever it is they're calling it these days..... McCalls 4236 was the pattern of choice (on sale at JA's, made that choice easy). I gathered all of the ingredients, but it still took me until 5 days pre-shower before I managed to cut into the material. (More Freudian fear....but we're not going there.....) I still had decisions to make: What size? First I cut a Large, which was GINORMOUS! I cut it down to a Medium. This pattern runs large! How to finish the seams? How to install the zipper? Sleeves or sleeveless? What if I make the wrong choice? Sheesh, really? (this is why I much prefer the Selfish Seamstress route!) I mean, really, ALL there is to the pattern is 2 pattern pieces and a zipper. But of course, I wasn't about to leave well enough alone, and managed to tweak just about every single step of the process.

1 pattern
1 zipper
thread
3 pieces of fabric
Utter simplicity, right?

I found this variegated wooly nylon thread that put a smile on my face, and decided I had to use that in the serger. The pattern calls for turning the neck & arm edges under & stitching. That would be too easy. I decided to make a binding, with the edges serged using the colorful serger thread. One reason for this was practical - this is a REALLY thick cotton knit, and I figured that a serged edge would reduce a little bit of bulk. Not that Baby cares about bulk....at least based on my observations.... Anyway, the fabric is YUMmy feeling, and really warm! Definitely something I would be comfy sleeping in :-) My plan (fingers crossed) is that the new family will have lots of newborn-sized goodies for the Spring & Summer, and this will fit Baby on cold nights next winter. That's the plan.....

Binding, cut on the cross grain, one edge serged.

I attached the binding (RS of binding to WS of the fabric), giving the binding a good stretch as I sewed it onto the body (those little curves are pretty tiny!). Then trimmed the seam allowance, leaving just enough binding to fold over to the RS & give a narrow binding, showing on the outside.

The next change I made was to use a separating zipper & install it upside down. This, again, was on the advice of the cyber-sewing Moms (thank you!) There is no consideration in the pattern for a zipper guard to protect baby's skin, and I want to add something. I was wishing at this point that I had made some time to go snoop shopping in baby stores, but I decided I could figure something out.

And I did :)

I cut a strip of the fabric wide enough to cover the zip (which was a wide, sports zip - plastic teeth) after it was folded in half lengthwise, and serged along the edges:

Then I attached it to one edge of the zip, leaving a lip about 1/2" long peeking over the neckline:

Folded over and tacked down, this protects Baby's neck from the zipper:

Inside. The serged edge is sewn onto one edge of the zipper:

Bottom of zipper. I extended the zipper guard to cover the tail of the zipper, and gave it some reinforcing stitches.

Last step was to finish the armhole edges (same as the neck), serge around the edges of the bag, give it a wash (I had already pre-shrunk the fabric, as I always do, but I wanted to package it up sparkling clean)

It's very simple, with just the pop of color. I hope they like it.

Just so they can have something to use right away, I'm adding a receiving blanket, with serged edges to match the sleeping bag. Or Baby Sack. Or bunting. Or whatever it is.

Silly, really...all that fear over sewing a simple baby item. Now when baby is big enough to wear real clothes....that should be fun!!!! I actually did sew a fancy christening gown once....in my former sewing life, 30-some odd years ago.... And a wedding gown for that baby's Mom. Part of me really wants to see those garments again, part of me thinks I might be better off never really knowing what the construction of them looks like..... Conveniently, I keep "forgetting" to ask about them....

Next up..... Gosh, I don't know!!!! Maybe a raincoat. I have a plan..... Or maybe I should catch up on the undone housework. Or bill paying.....

Does your sewing take priority over other household tasks? Do you have dishes piled in the sink while you're happily stitching away? Do you, too, sew first, pay bills later? Or do you actually manage to [gasp] do it ALL? (if so...what are your secrets?)

And the Blogiversary Giveway Winners are....

2012-01-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

...using the highly precise, not-to-be-questioned, tried and true method of drawing names from the hat:

Jodie (blogless) wins the Jalie 2794
Martha (also blogless)wins the Raggedy Ann/Andy Pattern
The talented and elegant Debi from My Happy Sewing Place wins the Retro Butterick 6759
And Mary, who blogs about her sewing and some mouthwatering cooking recipes at MarySews has won the Sewing Workshop Yin & Yang Dress.

Congratulations ladies! Your patterns are eagerly awaiting their trip to loving new homes; please email me (moonpadler at aol dot com) with your mailing information, and I will send them on their way to you :)

This was fun, and I even discovered a couple of lovely new (to me) blogs in the process! Elle C made this absolutely delightful zipper bag, definitely worth checking out! Anne at Anne's Antics has some delightful creations (& is hosting a blog hop party right now!)

I look forward to hearing from the winners! :)

The Evolution of an Accidental Vest (K Tilton V8777)

2012-01-20T02:10:00.000-08:00

AKA - Sewing Without A Plan
AKA - Starting With A Plan, but Changing Your Mind (A Sewist's Prerogative)
AKA - Why Take the Safe and Easy Route, When the Scenic Route is So Much More Interesting?

I had a plan. I dove into the Stitcher's Guild Winter 6PAC with every intention of finishing it, but item #1 was the infamous Koos Coat, which ate up almost all of the time allotted for the 6PAC. Item #2 was the LaFred Thalia pants, but they ended up being made in a different fabric (and different color scheme) than the 6PAC plan. On to the new item #2 - a super simple, neutral vest, Katharine Tilton's Vogue 8777, which I whipped out in no time:

Super simple and neutral it is! Too simple. Too neutral. Must fuss & futz & do something else to it....

BTW, there isn't much to say about the construction of the vest. 3 pattern pieces, stitch up the seams, & finish them with a topstitched faux flat fell. I used a narrow zig-zag for the seams, and the "triple stitch" for the topstitching. The instructions are very clear - it's one of those patterns that takes twice as long to trace & cut the fabric as it does to sew up.

That is, if you leave it alone at this point....

This vest (View C) calls for unfinished edges. I'm really not a fan of unfinished edges, (unless they're frayed, or done with a fabulous selvedge, or have something fun & special going on), so I wanted to do something...but what? My M.O. these days is to go to bed & let the questions stew, & as I'm drifting off, that's when the answer usually comes. This time the answer was TIES! Ah yes, all those neckties....

I selected some ties that worked well with the vest color, draped one around the neck & front, & decided that was a good place to start. (Note that I still don't have a plan, exactly...I'm just kind of stumbling along & seeing where the path will lead....)

I dug out the Steam-a-Seam (which still feels sort of like cheating to me...why IS that? The stuff is GREAT!) I placed the tie so that half of it extended beyond the center front edges of the vest, Steam-a-Seamed & stitched it in place along the edge of the vest, and step 1 was done:

I decided that the armholes needed a bit more tie action, so I selected 2 more ties, & stitched the narrow end of a tie around each armhole. For these, I placed the edge of the tie even with the armhole seam. And used more Steam-a-Seam. I stitched the armscye edge, then stitched down the other edge of the ties. The added fabric of the ties on top of the ponte caused the arm edges to stand out a bit. I did take a dart in the tie "binding" under the arm to lessen this effect, but it's still there. I'm OK with that:

I'm having fun with the vest so far, and liking it, but now the bottom edge clearly needs.....something. Time to sleep on it again. This time, piping was the answer. But, a) how to make it, and b) how to attach it so that it looks finished on both sides?

I wanted to make a continuous bias strip out of what I had left of the two armhole ties:

I stitched them together along the long edge, RS together.

This made for a semi-rectangle, a bit wobbly on the edges,

with the narrow end of each tie attached to the wider end of the other tie.

I then marked 1.5" wide lines all along the pieced together ties.

Note: I ended up with TWICE the length of bias strip that I needed!

I could have (should have) made my marks 2" wide -

it would have made sewing up the piping MUCH easier. 20/20 hindsight & all that....

(Biggify the pic to see the lines more clearly):

I then attached the other long edges of the ties, by matching the end of line #1 on one tie to the beginning of line #2 on the other tie, forming a tube.

If you've matched up your lines, you will have one continuous line going round the tube.

This is a classic way of creating a continuous bias strip, except for the rather wonky edges,

creating lines that aren't really on the true bias.

But hey, I figured if it didn't work,

I was just out two cheap vintage neckties & a bit of time.....worth it!

Start cutting along the marked lines, being very careful to only cut through one piece of fabric at a time.

You'll end up with one long strip of bias.
The result of my mad method of wonky grainlines was that the strip had some narrow spots,
and some wider areas, but this wasn't like a binding that needed to be even, so it worked out all right *whew*

Next step was sewing up the piping, using a zipper foot.

This is where a wider strip would have been MUCH easier!
It also would have been easier using a straight stitch Singer,
but I was being lazy (late night sewing syndrome) & didn't want to fill a new bobbin & switch threads.

I placed the strip on the wrong side of the vest fabric (once again, Steam-a-seam to the rescue!),

with the piping just below the hemline edge, & stitched it in place, again using the zipper foot.

I then cut a 1/2" wide strip of the ponte & covered up the raw edge of the piping by using.....you guessed it....Steam-a-Seam! I stitched a bit of the strip in place, but the stitching looked horrid, so I just used the Steam-a-Seam alone.....we'll see how well it holds up.... [gulp]

I wasn't content with the look yet, and being something of a pocket fanatic

(I loves me my pockets)

I created two little pockets from the remaining ends of the ties:

Just one more little step:

Finally....Done!!!!

The midnight photo session:

Annie Hall's got nothing on me.....

And yes, I WILL wear this outfit out & about....just like this :)

It's a little bit....Grampa Vest

a little bit Annie Hall

a little bit....odd

But still, I kinda love it :)

Note the "Obi Sash" in this pic, made from two more ties.

Materials Tally:

Fabric: Rayon Ponte: - 1 yd.
Vintage Neckties: 3
Steam-a-Seam Lite: 8 yds. (approx.)

Note: Add to Shopping List - More Steam-a-Seam Lite. I'm officially out.

I wonder if I'm even capable of seeing a completed garment in my head and actually following that vision through to completion. I honestly have great admiration for those who can do it! I'm the same with room design/decor. It happens over time, by trial and error. It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong, and then suddenly I place something just so, and it's right!

How about you? Are you one of those talented people who can visualize a plan and carry it through? Or do you muddle along and figure it out as you go, enjoying the process but not really knowing where it will take you? Or do you have another way that works for you?

Blog Comment Issues?

2012-01-18T13:41:00.000-08:00

I really like the new interface in the Comments that allows you to "Reply"to individual messages, so I switched from the PopUp Comment window to the embedded Comments in order to have that feature.

(side note: appropriate image for this SOPA/PIPA day, eh?)

Unfortunately, I've received a couple of emails from people who said they weren't able to comment on my blog, so I've switched back to the PopUp Window.

If you tried to leave a comment on my Blogiversary/Giveaway post, please give it another go....if you still can't comment here, would you please do me a favor and shoot me an email, letting me know? Has anyone else had trouble with the new interface?

UPDATE: It appears that people who are using Internet Explorer (and WHY are you still using IE, she asks?) are having issues commenting on some of the blogspot blogs that have the threaded comments (i.e., the new blogspot rollout that allows direct Replies to comments). Until (if) google/blogspot fixes this issue I guess I'll forgo the threaded feature and stick with a pop-up window for comments.

Ah well....we shall carry on!

Happy 1st Blogiversary and a Giveaway!

2012-01-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! I have a reason for a little giveaway party! Not that I need an excuse, but...I published my very first blog post one year ago today, so it's my First Blogiversary :)

I've already written a little year-end wrap-up, so all I'm going to say here is that I'm THIS delighted with my discovery of the blogworld, and the thought that I could actually create a blog myself, have fun doing it, and attract people who apparently enjoy reading what I share. Makes me feel good :)

I credit my local sewing group, BABES (Bay Area Bash Expressly for Sewists), who encouraged me to start a blog after my first meeting with them. One would be hard-pressed to find a group that is more welcoming, supportive and generous with knowledge and goodies - we always have plenty of fabric, patterns, knowledge and paraphernalia to share. But then, what I have discovered in this wonderful world of stitchery is that sewists tend to be like that.

Which leads me to - the Giveaway! Another first for my blog. :~) I'm hoping to find good homes for the following patterns:

#1) Jalie 2794. The popular sweetheart knit top. I did make this a couple of times, but I don't think I'll be doing it again. It's popular for good reason, but as I'm finding my own style, I realize that this just isn't it. Uncut, and Jalie's typical every-size-in-the-book

#2) The Sewing Workshop Yin & Yang Dress. (Sm - XL) This one was cut, but to the largest size, so all sizes are there.

#3) McCalls 2531 - Vintage Raggedy Ann pattern from the 70's. (Someone on Etsy is asking $26 for this! Think it'll sell? I hope mine will find a great home - for free) :~) Includes sizes for 15" - 20" & 25" dolls. It looks to be still in factory folds, with everything in reasonably good condition.

#4) Butterick 6759, Size 12, 14, 16. Retro Peplum Jacket & Skirt. Uncut, Factory folds.

This presents a variety that will hopefully appeal to a few people - I hope you see something you would like!

I love my followers, but it's not a requirement; this is open to one and all. Just leave a comment with which pattern you would like (I'll be giving away all 4), and will have a random drawing on Saturday 21st.

Good Luck!

One more thing...I just saw this picture, and given the day, just had to share...

May we all have dreams, and remember to live them :)
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The Koos Coat - She is DONE! :)

2012-01-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's done!

I left off last month (last year!) with the sleeves dangling on pins and basting stitches, not quite sure how I was going to attach them....and the poor thing's been hanging on Queenie ever since. Once I'd had a delicious little snack (the LaFred pants) I was ready to go again, and decided to attach the sleeves per the pattern instructions - flat felled. Ugh. What I should have done (which required foresight) was to not stitch the construction seams all the way to the edge, especially the installation of the bias binding. This way I could have neatly trimmed off the excess fabric while trying to get a nice, even stitch on the flat felling. And, of course, I should have left 1" seam allowances for all of the ff'd seams. I did trim the fabric as best I could, but given the different thicknesses of fabric, the risk of losing fabric I wanted through fraying (or [gasp] snipping through it....yes, I did that in one spot ::cry::)...well, can we just say that the next time I flat fell a seam it WILL be on even, not-too-thick fabric, and hopefully I will be much more successful, after all this practice!

Top of sleeve on outside - not too bad looking

Top of sleeve on inside - and the ugly truth....

Truth is, I will probably NEVER wear this jacket inside out. I probably won't even bother posting a picture. I mean, hey - I LOVE the outside, the inside is meh at best, so why even go there, right?

A bunch of random pictures:

Collar rolled down

Construction Notes from this last phase:

1. Attaching Sleeves: See above regarding clipping out as much excess fabric as possible. And I would HIGHLY recommend 1" SA's for all flat felled seams. This I will remember in the future. (Pounding this into brain as I type)

2. The Welt & Pockets. Vogue's welt instructions were a little odd to me, but then, this is a reversible jacket, and the pocket isn't attached to the welt at all, it's just sewn directly on to the inside of the jacket, so I followed their instructions. (mostly) The first one left me mystified in several areas, but once I figured it out, the second one went very quickly. The only part I didn't like at all is that there are a lot of raw edges left on the welt. They're inside the pocket, but still - poor construction quality, imho. Especially given the fray-proneness of one of my fabrics! So I turned the raw edges under & topstitched them:

The edge I'm holding is left raw if you follow the Vogue instructions

I trimmed the inside fabric...

Folded the welt fabric over & topstitched
(this was welt #1 - #2 looked a bit better, but not much.
It was, once again, 8 layers of fabric in some areas....)

Sew the pockets on, hem the sleeves, clip the threads, press.....And that was it! It took me over a month to get over the sleeve attachment hump, but really, it went relatively quickly once I did. And, in spite of all the foibles & glitches, I'm thrilled with the results!

Some consolidated general tips (most of this is posted in more detail in my other 3 posts):

1. Fabric Choice: The ideal fabrics would all be similar weight and hand, with your bias trim being as lightweight as possible. I think this coat would be fabulous in some drapey fabrics - a light-weight version that hangs in softer folds than a wool version.
2. Pattern Instructions: In general, the instructions are pretty thorough. However, they do NOT follow the construction methods that Mr. Van den Akker used. Janis at Grainlines and Biases attended a workshop teaching Koos' methods. If I were to make this jacket again, I would utilize the methods she used! In a nutshell, the fabric pieces of the outside are glued onto the inside fabric (the seams are NOT sewn together), and the bias strip is laid in place and then sewn through all the layers. She also mentions a nifty way of attaching the sleeves, by using something like Hong Kong finishes on the SAs, so that the seams would stick up (on the inside of the coat). I seriously considered doing this, but ended up flat felling.
The labeling & numbering on the pattern pieces is just plain weird. It makes no sense at all - I recommend cutting out your pattern pieces and laying them out, then RE-labeling them in a way that makes sense to you before you buy your fabric - that is, if you're the sort of person who wants to buy what you need, as opposed to one who always buys lots of extra.
This is definitely an Advanced pattern, but if I could make my way through it, most of you out there in the sewing world can too!
3. Pattern Sizing and Fit: This is a seriously oversized jacket. I muslined a Medium, & ended up making a Small, and it's still a fairly long jacket length on me. The collar is TALL; unless you have a very long neck, it will end up making odd little folds on its own, or you'll need to fold it over for comfortable wearing. (I trimmed mine down by about 1")
And don't forget to add extra SA width to the seams that will be flat felled!
4. The Collar: Even though I trimmed it down so that my ears & chin aren't pushing on it, I'm discovering that the collar still has a tendency to want to fold down a bit. If you want it to stand up, you may want to add some stiff interfacing to your fabric (depending on your fabric choice, of course)

I may add a button to my jacket, but it will, of course, require the perfect button, which I didn't find in my stash (clearly I need more buttons! hah.)

In the end, I have to highly recommend this pattern! If you like a swing coat (I do!) this is a wonderful, modern take on it. You can make a super easy version in a double sided fabric, without all of the piecing (see my first post for my fleece version - still unfinished because I do have some fun embellishments planned). This is one of those patterns that really has a lot of room for creative fun!

ETA: I've just discovered that there is another finished version of the coat in blogland - Noile has made a wonderful jacket using what she cleverly calls "Koos Lite". She has a very detailed & informative post about her construction methods, including some helpful notes about the oddly labeled pattern pieces.

I think I'm starting to find a rhythm in what works for me regarding sewing projects. I really thrive on the challenges - both in learning new techniques and in creativity, and I also love the instant gratification that a quick snack offers. Alternating the two, and even sticking a snack in the middle of a long haul project, is what keeps me happily motivated.

How about you? Do you like challenge after challenge? Or would you rather have instant gratification most of the time? Or do you need both?

LaFred Lives On! (Thalia Pants)

2012-01-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

Finally, I made it back to the sewing room for an actual sewing project! :D

I've been drawn to this pattern since the first time I saw it - fits right in with my usual attraction to patterns that look oh-so-smashing on tall, willowy models, and, um, not-so-smashing on someone of my stature. Sometimes I decide I'll make it work anyway.

The end result ~ Slimming? Not so much. Comfy? Absotively!
Dress up or down? Yes and Yes. Easy to make? Another Yes!
All in all....a winner :)

Just for fun, I tried to duplicate the pose this model made.
Can't be done. Well, not by me anyway.
Go ahead. I dare you. Try it.

One of the reasons it took me so long to make this pattern is that I thought it was going to be complex. You know. Trousers. Fitting. Details. Then I pulled out the pattern & looked through the instructions, I was surprised at how utterly simple the construction was. And with the loose fit, it looked like a (relatively) quick & easy project. And I had reached the point with The Koos Coat that I needed to make a soup & salad meal so that I could take a break from the 7 course preparation...sometimes you just need easy to get the mojo working again!

Other reviews all mentioned the MASSIVE ease around the hips, so I made up a quick muslin in a Medium - my waist & hips actually placed me in between a Med & Lg. The muslin was still too baggy, so I re-cut it in a Small, which felt fine.

A note about the length - the pattern is SHORT. REALLY short. I have short legs, & the length is just about right on me. Be forewarned before you cut!

There's not much to say about the pattern instructions or construction - it's really all pretty straightforward; instructions are thorough & easy to understand. I made some minor changes in the fit around the waist by leaving a smaller SA at the side seams, and also making the pleats a bit smaller - essentially making the waist about 1.5" wider. The waist is gathered in the back with two pieces of elastic. Fred made a note to add both elastic pieces at once through the two channels, which I did, using two large-eyed, blunt-nosed needles, like so:

The closure consists of 2 buttons, with buttonholes sewn into pleats on either side of CF.

You can either sew your buttonholes through both layers of the fabric forming the pleat, as I did, or you can sew separate buttonholes in each fabric layer (for a total of 4). If you sew the pleats together with the buttonholes, you need to make sureyou can pull the pants on over your hips! Now, I have wide hips. (which seem to be getting wider as the years pass.....but I digress.....) I really really did NOT want to make 4 buttonholes - not because I'm lazy (even though I can be), but because I wanted the neater look that sewing the pleats together would give. By making the pleats a bit narrower, which resulted in the waistband being bigger, I was able to do the buttonholes the way I wanted & still get the pants on & off easily.

A note about the pattern markings: don't worry about making all of them when you cut your fabric. It's nice to have the option to change your closure placements anyway, for a custom fit.

Vintage buttons from stash.
The waistband seam has an odd, wavy look here -
I think it was the way I was standing. It's not a badly sewn seam - really, honest!

I wanted the pants a bit on the long side, to be worn with heels (my version of a heel...which is not 4"...or even 3", for that matter). This leaves them a bit long for flats, but I'll wear them for awhile before making any changes.

With heels

With Flats

Side View

Back View
(My shoulders are NOT that lopsided -
it's a downside of using the camera remote instead of a friend)

Other notes: I think a drapey fabric is a must for this pattern - I love the feel of the flow as I walk in these pants. I used a midweight tencel with a very soft hand - perfect for this pattern! I used Pro-Woven Fusible interfacing from fashionsewingsupply on the waistband - not too crisp, not too wimpy.

A fun, easy project - I would make them again if the right fabric for them jumped out at me :)

BTW, the blouse is Decades of Style Collar Perfection - (pre-blog - it's reviewed here on Pattern Review) - the second thing I made after re-entering the sewing world. Gosh, it's been almost two years now..... I struggled a lot with it, because of all of the alterations I attempted. It came out fine in the end, but I've come a long ways since then.

And now it's time to get back to Koos! The good news is that I've finally decided how I'm going to do the next step. I think......

2011 - What I sewed, what I learned...

2011-12-30T19:13:00.000-08:00

I haven't made it into the sewing room to do anything of substance for...oh... 3 weeks or so now... so I decided it was time for a bit of reflection on the past year. This was my first full year of sewing since I was a (very) young adult, and it was definitely a year filled with firsts for me - lots of lessons learned!

The tally:
6 pants
3 jackets
2 vests
4 shawls, wraps & such
3 knit tops (only THREE?? What happened there?)
3 skirts (for Mom)
4 dresses (all for others...I guess I'm still not a dress person)
2 pairs of pajamas (for Mom)
A bunch in the misc. category - belts, bibs, bags, baubles, berets....

Not really quite as productive as I had thought (but still...that's more than 2 per month, not counting all of the miscellaneous items & alterations, so not too bad, all things [aka~life] considered). Plus, several projects were...well...PROJects! Complicated, time-consuming, but lots of fun & definitely rewarding!

The biggest lesson learned really sank home while looking through the pictures of 2011's projects. I realized that the items worn most have been all of the pieces in the above composite pic, made for Pattern Review's mini-wardrobe contest, and my Jalie Jeans. Both of these filled a practical need, and the wardrobe contest made me think in terms of items that actually, well, made up a wearable, mix & match WARDROBE! I mean, no orphans! Who woulda thunk it?

I've been trying to pay attention to this ever since the wardrobe contest, but I do get distracted by bright shiny objects, like this one:

Definitely fun to make (although it had its challenges, to be sure) but I still need to make some items that expand its wearability factor.

There were a couple of bright shiny objects that also fit into the practical, goes-with-lots category, like this faux fur jacket - Lois Ericson's Cosmopolitan (made in January, but pre-blog, reviewed at PR):

A number of items made for others were gratifying and appreciated (*whew*)

A new TNT summer top, the Collette Sorbetto, was added to my repertoire:

And I tried my hand at silk screening (thanks to Marcy Tilton)

Other notables were a FINISHED UFO (from 2010, no less...), an introduction to the fabulous new Ausie company, Style Arc, and lots & lots of fleece, including this cute little bedjacket (which has also been getting a lot of wear)

My first Fail: (sorry Chloe)

Balanced by another Style Arc Winner

(I still can't believe I only made THREE knit tops this year -

I guess 2010 was the year of the knit top for me....)

A bright new table setting:

My latest obsession with ties, which promises a fair amount of creative productivity in the coming year:

And, of course, the current project (not counted above, after all, it's still a UFO).....

I hereby promise to me & the rest of the blogging world, the Koos Coat will be worked on this weekend!!!!

And by the way...this coat not only matches a whole lot of pieces that I already have, but is part of the Stitcher's Guild winter 6PAC, which means that several other matching pieces are ready to go (the 6PAC may or may not actually get finished in time, but that's beside the point...) I really am trying to pay attention to making pieces that can be happily worn with other pieces I have, or am making..... Really, truly, I'm learning this lesson!

Here's to lessons learned, and more importantly, remembered. One lesson that is always with me is the value of community - I remain incredibly thankful for my online sewing community (many of whom are now a part of my 3D life) - I am so grateful for all you have given me :)

May we all have a 2012 that is filled with abundance in many forms, and may we be blessed with lessons that help us learn, and grow, and become more of who we can be.

Happy New Year, dear sewing buddies!

All Tied Up with a New Obsession! (or two....)

2011-12-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

The Stuff of Life has, once again, locked the door to my sewing room, but I will be getting back to the Koos Coat soon....very soon....promise!

Meanwhile, here's a taste of my latest little obsession....ties! Ties! And more Ties!

Ages ago I thought a vintage men's tie would have been the perfect item for some project or other (long since finished using something else), but alas, I had none. So I've been slowly allowing them to follow me home whenever I ran into a stray, with vague ideas floating around the brain as to what I might actually do with them....

Then I ran into this delightful post over at Rhonda's Creative Life, and quickly whipped up one of her super easy obi belts:

This was perfectly timely, since I've also been obsessing over how to make some belts I would like (and NEED!) A few minutes of hand stitching is all it takes, and it's truly a one-size-fits-all item, depending on how you tie it together. I wore it the day after making it, and can't wait to make more!

This really kicked the slow collecting into obsession mode, and I now brake for thrift stores - and I know which ones charge as little as $.50 and which charge as much as $19.99 (for a used tie? Don't THINK so.....).

I have numerous sketches and ideas for other belts, necklines, handles, facings....and I might even do a variation on the old necktie skirt....we'll see.....

On another note....I need to make some clothes to wear with.....here she is.....allow me to introduce....

Matilda Joplin!

I'll have much more to say about her as I come up with appropriate girly-biker clothes. I'm picturing skirts -or skorts- a scarf flowing in the breeze, a cloche or some creative ways to disguise a helmet... Of course, there are always the usual, 'appropriate', biker type clothes, but this is a girly bike, and I'll definitely be getting a wicker basket for the front, and I plan on dressing to the nines for certain biking occasions! Like, you know, going to the Farmer's Market.....

I leave you with blessings and best wishes for the release of those dark bits of the soul that might be holding you back, and as the days get longer again, here's to bringing more light and joy into all of our lives....Happy Solstice Everyone!

The Koos Coat - What I've Learned So Far

2011-12-01T17:51:00.001-08:00

Oh, how I wish there were days when I had nothing to do but sew!!! I am making progress, but it seems rather slow...especially when I think I'll be done with a certain stage in a couple of hours, and a day later, I'm only halfway there! But crises have been averted, and I am, once again, really happy with how it's looking :)

I do have a few notes to make, however.

Pattern Rating

ADVANCED Vogue's Definition: The finest patterns featuring the best of European and American Couture. Perfect for those who like the sewing challenge of professional tailoring and fine couture techniques. Expect intricate fashion shaping, hidden construction details, couture inner construction, fine touches of hand sewing and bias draping.

I don't know about the "couture" bit, and Koos isn't known for a love of tailoring, but in my somewhat limited experience, I have to at least partially agree with the rating. I would just rate it "Not for the faint of (sewing) heart". I do not, by any stretch, consider myself an "Advanced" sewist, so if I can do it (and I CAN!)....well, chances are, you can too :)

Fabric Choice

This is a lesson called "Do what I say, not what I did".

I love all of my fabrics, really, I do. But...... (biggify for the words)

I HIGHLY recommend choosing stable fabrics, all with similar weight and hand. For construction ease, this can really save you some angst. Of course, if you're like me, you're going to go for the colors, textures, and variety that speak to you, and just deal with the angst anyway. Just don't say I didn't warn you!

Also, I recommend a relatively thin fabric for the bias strip (mine was a bit thick....of course). :::rolleyes::: Bear in mind that, once you start flat felling the sleeves onto the coat, you'll be going over multiple layers of fabric, especially when you start crossing the bias strips!

(Note that I didn't even mention the inside fabric in the above pic, which caused most of my angst......if you saw my previous post, you already know about that....)

Sizing and Alterations

It runs large. I started with a Medium muslin, & ended up making a Small.

I only made 2 alterations. One was on the Sleeve length, which I shortened at the wrist end, like so:

It's an odd-shaped sleeve;
I marked the shortening line to run perpendicular to the grain line,
& then trimmed the edges to smooth them out.

After I had the body of the coat put together, one of those niggly little back-of-the-mind voices that had been whispering to me finally made itself be heard. Loudly. Notice the height of the collar on this model (who almost certainly has a neck that is twice as long as mine to start with).

I was drowning beneath this collar! It either had to be folded over, or it would create its own fold all around the center of the collar. Not a good look! Luckily, I was still at a stage where I could unpick the stitching & cut down the height (by over 1")...I made an 'after the fact' notation on the pattern piece:

The overall length is closer to coat than jacket (at least on my 5'4" [almost] frame), much longer at the back than at the front, but I'm fine with the length as is. You could just trim the bottom of it off if you wanted it shorter. Which I would probably wait to do until after you had all of the piecing done....it could be a little tricky figuring out just how it falls until you have it to a point where you can at least pin the body of it together.

Flat-Felled Seams

I remember doing these early on in my former sewing life.

Not much though, because mostly I remember hating doing them.

Clearly, though, it was time to change my attitude, since all of the remaining seams in this jacket need to be flat-felled. The problem (for me) was how to deal with 4 thicknesses of wool fabric being sewn & folded (making 6 thicknesses for the topstitching...even more when you start sewing over the bias strips!)

After trimming the inside SA to a scant 1/4", I decided to trim the inside fabric of the outer SA as close as possible to the seam line. This means I would only be folding over one thickness, instead of two (Did that make sense?)

SA on the upper side of the pic is a full 5/8"
The next layer of fabric is trimmed right next to the seam
The two fabrics on the other side of the SA are trimmed to a scant 1/4"

For the pressing portion of the seams, I decided to use a technique I learned when working with slippery silk charmeuse. I folded the wide seam over & pinned it in place directly on to the ironing board, using glass head pins, & poking them in at a sharp angle.

Steam & Press it into submission, then let it rest until it's cool:

The finished, top-stitched result - I'm happy with it!

I'll leave you with a shot of the ugly truth of the scene on the inside, soon to be hidden (hopefully!) beneath the pocket. (But don't show this picture to anyone else, OK?)

Next up: sewing the sleeves on to the jacket, making the pocket welts, installing the pockets, and ... dare I say it ... completion!!!!

The Koos Coat - The Good News/Bad News Post

2011-11-28T17:01:00.001-08:00

The Bad News: In spite of laying the two sides (inside/outside) together & matching them up perfectly, (which involved only a tiny bit a trimming, once I started basting them together they somehow no longer matched up. At all. WTF? :( In fact, I had a chunk of excess fabric on the reverse side that I could have made a sleeve out of.

The Good News: OK, so I exaggerate a bit....I approached it with a "Yes, I Can Do" attitude, & in a little stroke of brilliance I realized that I could take a dart in the fabric, and place it so that I could disguise it with the Top Stitching - YES!

The pinned dart (although it did get moved & adjusted after this pic)

The Bad News: I machine basted (with a walking foot) several lines from top to bottom, connecting the fabrics, & it became clear that, even though everything pretended that it was matching up, puckering was going to happen anyway. The tweedy tan wool blend on the reverse side was stretching out a little bit more every time I looked at it, no matter how subtle I tried to be. :(

The Good News: Steaming and Pressing the sucker into submission appeared to be taming it!

The Bad News: I started topstitching (with walking foot) along the bias strip lines (I really wanted to be working with the expanding tan fabric on top, but in order to have the guide lines to work with, I really needed to start on the pieced side). Everything seemed to be going well, until I got to an area where the steaming & pressing just wasn't doing the trick. YARDS of excess fabric started appearing!!!! Well, OK, maybe it was inches, or perhaps it was really centimeters (I'll never, ever get centimeters & quarter inches figured out....which one is bigger?), but still. Way. Too. Much.

I went to bed.

The Good News: In another flash of inspiration, I realized that the excess fabric was all appearing right about where the pocket would be placed! I checked it today, and sure enough, it looks like I may be able to coax the folds underneath the pocket. :::whew:::

If you biggify the pic, you may be able to see the dart (near the armhole at the top)
and the thread tracing around the pocket edges. I think I can save it.....

The Bad News: I may end up with a one-sided coat, not reversible. But the semi-good news is that it's actually OK, since I probably would wear the pieced side out 90% of the time anyway.

I guess, when it comes down to it, it isn't really a Jilly Be project if it doesn't involve a couple of unexpected side trips along the journey...

The Good News to end with: No matter what, I'm committed to enjoying the journey! (side trips & all....)

Hope all of your unexpected side trips are pleasant and fulfilling!

The Koos Coat! - In Process (and A Secret...)

2011-11-26T17:12:00.001-08:00

I am THIS stoked about this pattern (Koos Van den Akker's Vogue 1277)! Seriously, this is the most fun I've had on a sewing project....maybe ever! This was a pattern I fell in love with the moment I first laid eyes on it. Reversible, all sorts of room for creative fabric placement, and I loves me a great swing coat, especially one with such a fabulous, updated look:

Now, as far as I'm concerned, no one does the extremes of Is it Ugly or is it Fabulous quite like Koos. Case in point:

I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder & all that...
but seriously? He's done worse (imho, of course), but this is the only one
that's still currently available.

Back to The Coat...

Choosing fabrics was step one. Challenging? Oh yeah.... Fun? You betcha! I started by shopping my stash, & filled the missing pieces in from here & there, laying them out, moving them around....

And eventually ended up with this:

Which evolved into this:

(The fabric bit sticking out on the right is the sleeve)

Once I had the bias trim laid out on it, I was loving the combination!

The pattern instructions, by the way, are very clearly laid out. I've heard that Vogue gave instructions that are totally different (and more complicated) than Koos teaches it, but I've had no problems (so far) following anything.

Well, except for the bias strip pattern piece & instructions. I should have been able to tell at a glance that those were written by someone from Pluto...or someplace...but I wasted time trying to decipher them anyway, before I just did it my way. I've posted this method before, but I'll show my super easy way of cutting a bias strip here:

Once you have your bias tube sewn up, you simply insert a small self-healing mat inside the tube. This way, you can lay a clear ruler on the edge of your tube, & cut accurate edges (to the width of your choice), using a rotary cutter. After you cut a section, simply slide next section of the tube to the top of the mat, replace your ruler, and cut another section. Accurate widths for the full length of the strip, without having to mess with scissors! (I promise I'll do a full tutorial on this.....one of these days..... but there are already a lot of tutorials on cutting the fabric & sewing up the tube. I've just never seen this method of inserting a mat inside the tube for cutting before)

Anyway, back to The Coat....

The instructions call for sewing the fabric pieces together WRONG SIDES TOGETHER. After trimming your seams, you then lay your bias strips on top of the seams & top stitch each edge of the strips:

I thought this was kinda cool...no worries about getting off kilter
with your SA's on the other side of the fabric,
and everything looks finished, even on the unseen part!

Here are the pieces all sewn together & long edge stitched, connecting both sides of the coat
(this is the WS of the fabric showing)
Inspector Sir Fur Purr seems to approve.
(Yes, cats are allowed to shed all over my fabric. That's life with cats. I got over it long ago)

This shows the reverse side.

After sewing the two sides together along the outer edge (RS together), you turn it through the neck/armhole opening, and baste the opening's raw edges together. Here's where I'm at now:

The next step is All. That. Topstitching! My only concern is how to get the topstitching done w/o puckering happening.... I'm practicing on scraps, but I still don't feel totally confident that I can keep both sides nice & smooth on the full lengths of All. Those. Lines.

Any tips or hints will be gratefully received!

Oh, yes, I promised to reveal A Secret! Here it is. See how simple the main body of the coat is, w/o all of the pieces? This fabric was actually "Muslin" #2. I did up the first one (out of an old tablecloth) in a Med = too big. So I decided to cut a wearable Small from fleece (I loves me my fleece, as many of my readers probably already know), and finalize my sleeve adjustments (they needed to be shortened) & check the overall fit before cutting into "The Good Stuff".

You say you don't want to fiddle with all those pattern pieces, or don't like the fabric matching game? But you like the lines of the coat? Well, here's The Secret. Once you've connected your pattern pieces together, you can cut this out in a thick, double-sided fabric, stitch it up, finish your seams, & you can actually have a wonderful coat in a couple of hours! Add pockets if you want, or line it, or make it reversible with another solid piece, and it's still an easy project!

Here's my fleece coat....this one is totally unfinished; I do plan on having some embellishing fun with it, & lining it with something else, but this can give you an idea of the possibilities:

My goal is to have the coat done by the end of the month (just a few short days away eek!), but hopefully I'll have most of the day tomorrow to work on it.

Wish me luck with the topstitching!

The Yin and the Yang of Gratitude

2011-11-24T10:45:00.001-08:00

I was reflecting this morning on the (many) blessings in my life - all I am grateful for - and it occurred to me that every single blessing on my list also contained a challenge.

The reverse, of course, holds true as well - every challenge contains a gift.

May I maintain an awareness, as I move through my days, to recognize the lessons available in every present, and to (gracefully) accept the offerings in every difficulty.

I am very grateful to be included in this amazing community of sewists - thank you for all of your gifts to me during my inaugural blogging year :) May you all be blessed with an abundance of gifts, lessons, students, teachers....and of course, fabric!

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all :)

I've Tied the Knot - with the Peony Vest!

2011-11-14T23:42:00.001-08:00

Yes, the courtship is complete, and how appropriate that the last step did indeed involve a knot!

This one, to be precise (more on that bit of the ceremony later):

The head scratching moments I had towards the end, while trying to get the jagged, wavy hemline to lie flat after all of the fitting adjustments I made (in spite of a muslin that I thought fit well...::shrug::) was definitely a lesson or seven around making sure that your lining - including grainline - matches the outer piece(s) perfectly!

Which mine, clearly, did not. With all of the odd-shaped pieces, and a slippery silk habotai lining, and multiple side seam adjustments along with even more hemline adjustments.... well, by the time I was actually matching the lining pieces to the hemline I had more unmatched edges than I thought possible! Have I mentioned that there was no room for error at the hemline? That the lining pieces were just supposed to be exactly the same length and angle as each of the pieces of the vest? What planet was I sewing on when I thought THAT would magically happen after all of the alterations I made???

I finally managed to get the hemline lying (relatively) flat and smooth, but on the last panel....well....a picture is worth a thousand words. This is not one of my proudest sewing moments:

The good news is that you can't see the ugliness from the outside,

and all of the other segments actually turned out quite well.

In comparison anyway.

And with a lot of handstitching.

Oh yeah, I had a bit of an "aha" moment - when I was trying to figure out how to get as many of the lining seams sewn by machine as possible (I'd long since given up on trying to follow the pattern directions), I ended up with something that looked an awful like like a bag full of fabric - is this why they call it a bagged lining? Of course, I may be way off on that (oh, the pages I could fill with what I don't yet know about linings!), but it made sense to me...

A note on the knots - the very last step! I had some bits of bias strips made from the charmeuse print, and I wanted to make some sort of non-button buttony things to place here & there. I was making some rather unsuccessful rolls, when serendipity knocked on my bloggy door & took me over to this tutorial at Handmade by Carolyn. PERFECT! I whipped up a few knotty buttons - super easy by following her excellent instructions. The only thing I did differently was to use a large, very blunt needle to pull my bias strip through itself, and I just made several knots on one strand before cutting them (that's the frugal me who doesn't want to waste any of that precious fabric!).

Finished "button", on an an evenly hanging hem! *whew*

The only "real" button on the vest -

it's a wannabe leather look - actually plastic, but a perfect match, I thought!

A few more closeups:

The next step in our journey is expanding our group of friends to play with. Initially, I actually thought the Peony was going to play well with things like blue jeans & boots, but, well.....not so much. I did find a few combos in my closet that were happy to go out & play with us, but I'll be keeping my eye out for some new potential playmates as well.

Here are some of the options:

I only have one top that I feel really works with the vest (white would be OK, but, well....who has NO white tops in their closet??? That would be me.... Well, I do have a couple of summer blouses, but nothing with any actual substance, that could be worn under an Autumn vest....) So with only one top (this Citron silk blouse...which I love - when I was still buying RTW, I was definitely a Citron addict....) my bottom layer was a bit limited. These RTW pants worked well though.

I also like it with this Decades of Style Arches skirt

The color looks a bit odd in this photo,
but it's a perfect match for the green in the charmeuse print:

Add my yummy new Harlequin Feltworks scarf, and I love the look!

And then there's the slightly Bohemian bent.
This look reminds me that a bright, colorful piece actually pairs well with a solid neutral look to coordinate. I've never really been that much of a matchy-matchy person, but as I try to refine my style I'm beginning to understand how matchy matchy can be a very good thing, in some circumstances.

The bottom line? Someone needs new boots and shoes. And fabric for some more tops. Must budget for that......

All in all, the journey's been a fun one! It went slowly mostly because of other life 'stuff' - I'm noticing that I'm becoming a much more patient sewist when I take missteps...they're all learning opportunities, and I prefer the slow and steady aspect of the journey, especially when I'm working on something "special".

Like, you know, a long-term relationship.

Welcoming the Wales! 111111 (Corduroy Appreciation Day)

2011-11-11T11:00:00.001-08:00

Surely you've heard by now? It's 111111 - National Corduroy Appreciation Day! Yes, really. The Corduroy Club claims all days with lots of 11's, and this one is the Mother of them all! (Will we still be wearing corduroy in 2111/11/11?)

Life has sidetracked me from blogging & sewing much lately, but I did hope to whip up a pair of Linda pants (in corduroy, but of course!) last night, but I didn't quite get finished in time for a photo this morning - maybe later today.... I'm doing my part for the Corduroy Lovers of the World!

I leave you with a few cord shots, and hope you are showing some appreciation for the cords, and cord wannabes, in your world today :)

And of course, Corduroy:

P.S. I had a little trip down memory lane while I was sewing up my Linda Pants (still no pic...but I did finish them before midnight!) Years ago, I remember making a corduroy robe for my BF, with velvet collar and cuffs (yes, it was that many years ago). I think it was a Christmas gift, and he wore that thing to death. Probably the last time I sewed with corduroy....but I know I'll be making more...I'm loving these pants already!

A Side Trip Down Easy Street - Kwik Sew Bed(?) Jacket

2011-11-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

Well, it was supposed to be a bed jacket...but I like it so much I think I'll be wearing this one out & about!

On those mornings when I don't need to jump out of bed, I enjoy a few minutes of sitting up in bed and "beditating". On those chilly winter mornings, however, this usually means crawling out of bed to put the fuzzy warm robe on, & then crawling back in bed with the ungainly robe, and it doesn't even cover those cold ears anyway! The solution? A warm, fleecey, hooded bed jacket!

I meant to make this Kwik Sew last year, but never got around to it. A couple of recent below freezing (OK, ok, maybe below 55, but still....COLD for these tropical-loving old bones!) mornings convinced me that it was time to whip this puppy up soon.

After a session with the Peony Vest that involved a few too many trials and errors figuring out the hem/lining details, I decided it was time for a quick & easy side trip to rejuvenate the mojo - the bed jacket was just the ticket!

I dug into my fleece stash & selected this nice, thick, soothing green Polartec 200, traced off a Small, and cut out the 2 pattern pieces w/ no alterations, looked through the instructions, & decided this was probably about 30 minutes of needle time. Including sewing on a button!

Well.....almost it was.

I serged the first 3 (out of 4) seams, & decided that the serged seams were entirely too bulky for this thick fleece. So I finger pressed the seams to one side & sewed over them with a decorative stitch to flatten them. The last seam (underarms & sides) I just sewed with a straight stitch.

I also had an issue sewing the corner where the hood attached to the back - going over clipped corners with the serger is not a technique I've figured out yet.

If you look closely, you can sort of see the clipped corners
- on the wrong side of the serging
- this was definitely a case where the sewing machine is preferable, at least for me!

The small ended up being a tad on the too small side, so instead of making a buttonhole & button, I braided 3 thin strips of the fleece together to make a button loop - this allowed the front to be a little bit looser. Then I did a decorative stitch around all of the edges (the pattern calls for hand sewing a blanket stitch around the edges, but for a one hour top? I think not....)

Here's a close up of the deco stitching & buttons:

Can a project be too easy & still produce results that are this much fun? I'm happy to add a few more sewing projects like this to my repertoire!

I love that the collar can lay flat, or sit up....lots of options!

Being all warm & cozy

The collar as it fell when I pulled the hood down - fun!

Materials: 1.5 yards of Polartec 200 Fleece, 2 vintage pleather buttons from stash, thread.
Time: About 3 hours, from pattern tracing through button sewing.
Rating: Two Thumbs Up!

I'll definitely make another variation (or two) of this one!

The question still remains: will I be wearing my bedclothes out on the street, or will I be wearing street clothes in bed? And does it matter?

May your dreams be pleasant, and your mornings be full of promise :)

I Said "Yes" :) (to the Peony Vest)

2011-10-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

We had to take a little break for awhile...sometimes relationships are like that, you know? "It's me, not you" I told the Peony, and this was true. After some required R&R, I feel centered & ready to enter the relationship arena (aka sewing room) again, and we're getting along better than ever!

I suppose this step was the equivalent of a ring - a nice little bound buttonhole* (my first! at least in memory....I may have done some in my previous sewing life, but I don't remember ever being successful....). Once the leather had been cut, there was no going back, and even though I've known I wanted to commit for some time, this pretty well sealed the deal :)
*CORRECTION! sdBev asked if this buttonhole was going to have lips, and I realized this is NOT a bound buttonhole; since it doesn't have the inside lips...I'm still searching for what the formal name (if there is one) of this sort of buttonhole is - anyone?
UPDATE: gloria suggested Spanish Snap buttonhole (which looks like a pretty cool technique), and Lynne concurs, so I'll go along with that. Although, since it seems to be a variation of the Spanish Snap, I think I'll just call it the "Koos Buttonhole" :)

I bought Koos Van den Akker's Vogue 1213 (aka the Stegosaurus Coat) after seeing sham's version, along with her recommendation to get the pattern for the buttonholes, if nothing else. She was right! I LOVE his buttonholes! Well, I love a lot of what he does, but that's another post. So I borrowed his buttonhole idea, with a few alterations, and I'll be using it again! And again, I'm sure!

Here's the simplified process (not really a tutorial, just a brief explanation):

Cut a square (or circle, or whatever) of fabric & lining, & sew RS together along the edges, leaving an opening to turn. Turn, slipstitch the opening, & baste along your buttonhole edges to mark the placement. Baste two "v's", which will be folded & stitched later. And there's lots of room for other creative folding & stitching options once you have this figured out! Too much fun!

Place the buttonhole piece, RS against the inside of your garment.
Stitch along the basted buttonhole edges.
Slice the center of the buttonhole; cut v's at each end, (as you would do in any welt opening)
and pull the buttonhole fabric through to the RS of the garment.

Fabric pulled through.
After this, you fold along the basted lines that form the v's,
& topstitch along the foldline, the outside edges, and the buttonhole.
Done!

I also (finally!) made a decision about the spaghetti tube. Here's the front:

The end of the tubing, towards the top, isn't sewn down yet,
but I think it will extend into the gold fabric, kind of as shown.

I added some pigskin strips to the back side panels, echoing the lines of the strips on the front side panels. The only embellishment left now is to add some more of the spaghetti tubing onto the back piece. I'm planning on just adding some simple, curvy lines, as on the front piece.

All that's left after that is sewing up the sides, finalizing the hem placement, and sewing up the lining seams (some, if not most, of that will be done by hand).

Oh, and the button. I have a cool button :)

I hope you all are taking the time to keep yourselves healthy and happy, in order to keep your relationships happy and healthy :)

Here's to Joy, Abundance, and Well Being.......

Coming Together (Peony Vest)

2011-10-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday and I'll sew if I want to
Sew if I want to
Sew if I want to...

If you got the musical reference, that means you're probably as old as I am ;-D

I was even wearing my hair in a Lesley Gore-type flip back then!
(Note: this is Lesley - not me! I was cuter)
:::looks at ceiling, whistles:::

I'm spending the day sewing as much as I can, and plan to breathe in blessings with every breath I take, and breathe out a smile of gratitude - if I can remember to do that all day, then I could not possibly hope for a better day :)

And the peony vest is cooperating! :) (mostly) We've been getting along famously well, with a bit of back-tracking here & there, but I'm carrying on, slowly, and calmly, with plenty of forgiveness for any mistakes made....it's amazing what a difference a patient attitude can make in forging a solid relationship. ;-)

Diane Ericson's instructions continues to create some confusion, and I've found that the best solution is to read them through & figure them out as best I can....then muddle through in my own way. One thing to be aware of is that she bounces forward & backward with construction steps. A couple of examples:

The instructions to pull the lining piece out of the way of the pocket comes in the step AFTER she has you start to sew the pocket on.
Instructions about sewing the lining on to the side pieces come in the step AFTER you sew the side piece on to the front piece.
The illustrations sometimes show pieces sewn together; sometimes they're separate....even though they might already be sewn together.

I unpicked one entire seam just because I had blithely sewn it up while trying to figure out just how the lining was supposed to work......and then realized I had meant to install piping in that seam. My bad, but the confusion about the construction process led me astray. A more experienced sewist than I probably would have been able to envision everything at the beginning. Even though the construction bones are really close to being done on my vest, I'm STILL figuring out the details of what to do when!

One thing I've learned is that I have a LOT to learn about linings! How to choose the best fabric match, how & when to install it, remembering to stay stitch fray-prone bits (especially when it gets handled and fussed over as much as I tend to do!)

However, I've definitely improved my piping installation technique. Here's how I'm doing it at this stage:

Add a strip of Steam-A-Seam to the edge of the leather,
lay the piping on top, measuring the stitch line (5/8" in this case)

I didn't want to run the piping over the shoulder seam,
so I cut it just before the seam, pulled out a bit of the cord & snipped it off.

Pulled the piping over to the edge,
so that it will be sewn into the seam.
The piping on the left (between the gold fabric & the pigskin) shows the resulting look.

After laying the abutting fabric on top of the piping,
I sewed close to the piping with a zipper foot.
(I don't have a cording foot....I'll look into that)
The unpicker is only in the shot to show how I'm sewing
with the zipper foot as close as possible to the piping.

Where we're at right now

I'm very happy with the way everything's coming together.....wish me luck at keeping it going! And I hope your relationships are sailing smoothly as well...

Slow and steady......

Relationship Time Out - to accept an Award!

2011-10-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

The amazing Lynne, of Sewing Cafe, has named my blog to receive The Versatile Blogger award! How delightful is that?! (and what a nice break from all this relationship business!) ;-D

I still remember when I first discovered Lynne's blog, as she was working on gloves for a Batman costume. I was so impressed with her detailed work, & couldn't wait to see the finished product. Here's her post on The Cape, and she now even has patterns for Batman and Robin costumes. As a former costume-maker in the movie industry, her work holds high standards, and I am honored to be recognized by her. ::blush:: Thank you Lynne!

The award comes with a few obligations, as follows:

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
Share seven things about yourself on your blog.
Pass this award along to recently discovered blogs.

Seven things? Gosh, I dunno...... I've managed to keep my private life sort of kind of private here, but things just start leaking out anyway, so here goes:

1. This won't be news to many of you, but I've curtailed work a lot recently in order to be my Mother's (who is 96!) caregiver. She not only taught me to sew when I was a kidlet, but being home so much now (I moved her in with me), combined with the need to alter and adapt her clothes for her changing needs, was the major impetus for finding my way (so happily!) back into the sewing world in January of last year.

2. When I do work, it is one of two businesses. My passion is my Feng Shui/Space Clearing practitioner work - a journey that has changed my life. BE-ing aware of how we interact with our environment, and each other, is a daily life practice for me, and has given me a sense of heart-based non-judgment that affects everything I do, whether consciously or subconsciously. Not that I don't ever get lost in chaotic confusion & other majorly challenging emotional states - hey, I AM human! ;-D I just try to remember that I have the tools to find my way back "home" :) And a lot of amazing, healing, friends :)

3. Some form of a creative outlet has always been a part of my life - from building fantasy communities out of popsicle sticks and plastic horses as a child, through playing various musical instruments (flute, bassoon, piano, guitar, piccolo) throughout school, to dance, jewelry-making, home & garden design, flower arranging, pendulum-making....and of course, sewing!

4. I was an avid sea kayaker for many years, and spent a lot of time as a volunteer for a wonderful local organization, Environmental Traveling Companions, providing outdoor adventures for people with special needs. I still own two boats, but I seriously should sell them, because they haven't gotten salty for several years now. But then again, I keep hoping.....

5. I lived my life sort of backwards in some ways. I decided I wanted to travel, hike, & live a semi-retired life while I was in my 20's & had the vitality to do a lot of crazy things. I lived on a shoestring much of the time, & figured I would do the career thing later. It seemed like a good idea at the time..... ;D While I would do many things differently "if I knew then what I know now....", I don't regret any of my experiences. They have made me who I am. :)

6. I was a dog person most of my life, and didn't understand cats. At all. Until I lived with one for several years. It took several years of those several years before I realized that cats were people too, and now I live with (and love) three of them. =^oo^= >^..^< =^--^=

7. I love to dig in the dirt and grow things. Especially flowers. My little urban garden is filled with fruit trees, dahlias, irises, tulips, poppies, passion flowers, roses, callas & various other lilies, mums, etc. etc. etc. And lots of California native, drought-tolerant plants. Everything is planted & watered with an awareness of environmental responsibility, which is another of my passions.

*whew* enough, already, about me!

I've discovered several new (or new-to-me) blogs recently, and I'm delighted to share them here! (actually, sharing other blogs gives me much more pleasure than sharing info about myself)

Margy at afool4fabric. represents the sewist I want to look like when I grow up! It will never happen, because I just don't have the elegant beauty and classic bones that exude from her, but I am definitely inspired by her style! She's a fairly new blogger, but a very experienced seamstress, and she has a fabulous ability to mix creative quirkiness with classic elegance. Meeting her in person at the recent Artistry in Fashion event was a total delight!

I'm finding puu's door of time to be a wonderful place to hang out. Her blog has been around for awhile, but is new to me. She is funny, talented, and inspirational in the way she takes (mostly) vintage patterns and creates very modern pieces. Her styling is unique-in-the-world; her pictures are always fun to look at, and she has some great educational posts as well :)

Another new(ish) blog belongs to Dixie, at With Needle and Brush. Dixie's creative eye, and ability to instill magic on fabric with embellishments, is the best sort of eye candy! I have a fantasy of spending time in her studio and soaking up tips and techniques from her (and wandering around Sawyer Brook Fabrics with her too, which is where she works - what a job, eh?)

I hope you visit these inspiring blogs & enjoy them as much as I have :)

The Peony and I - Our First Fight (We need Help!)

2011-10-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe more like a misunderstanding; hopefully just a little bump in the road. We've both agreed to counseling, so any professional help (or unprofessional, or even totally from left field suggestions) are welcomed here. I'm afraid I'm going to have to accept full responsibility for this mishap :(.

I clipped the seam allowances from the interfacing on the pigskin, to reduce bulk - in retrospect, this may have been my first mistake (more on this later....you don't always see it coming with your first innocent misstep.....).

Actually, yesterday was "one of those days" from the get-go. My cat had a last minute vet visit (we're awaiting biopsy results) and I didn't get the cording for the piping until late afternoon, so the daytime sewing I was hoping for didn't happen. Making the piping, though, went smoothly.

I basted it on to the leather, using a zipper foot. (Note: sewing the seams - leather to leather - was a breeze with a walking foot) It was dragging a bit in places; my low-tech solution was to place some tissue paper from an old and never-to-be-used pattern.

Piping basted in place. So far, so good:

Next step, add the lining. Uh oh. This is where the problems started. Again, I was using the zipper foot, to get close to the piping seam. I mentioned in an earlier post that I had interfaced the leather because is was pretty stretchy. Pigskin, apparently, does have a grainline.....sort of.... and I tried to cut accordingly, with the maximum stretch on the crossgrain. As I was sewing the leather, piping, and lining, the skin was puckering in some areas, stretching in others, and creating a totally wonked out match with the lining. Did I mention that the lining is silk? A relatively thin silk? Probably something like a thin habotai? With no stretch at all?

Now, I've done this before - tried to marry a lining with minimal stretch to a fashion fabric with lots of stretch. I made it work (because that's what I do, whenever possible), but I swore I wouldn't try that again.

Whoops.

I thought I had taken care of the leather stretch with the interfacing. Nope. Especially not (I think) when I removed the SA from the interfacing. Here's what's happening at the bottom edge:

The rounded flap is designed to fold over.
Nothing is pressed, but even a good pressing won't solve the problem here

And here's the problem: the bottom edge.
See how the leather is folded over the lining?
I've already unpicked everything along that bottom edge once,
shortened the leather piece, & resewed, but it wasn't enough.

Here's a better look at how the leather is folded over the lining,
and see how MUCH lining fabric is extending out?
These pieces matched when I started!

Note that I had already removed the piping from the lower edge of the other side front - and I haven't sewn the lining to the leather on that edge. So the problem here is that I have pieces that are designed to have the leather & the lining sewn together on all sides, but the leather & the fabric don't want to match up. And I'm afraid the leather might continue to stretch.

Soooooo...... do I just undo the lining from the leather at the bottom edge & finish them separately? In which case, how do I ensure that the area of the lining that shows on the folded over flap stays smooth & nice-looking over time? Do I unpick this lining & use a more suitable fabric? Frankly, the main reason I chose this lining was the color match - these were all fabrics from my stash, & it just didn't even occur to me that leather & silk weren't going to play well with each other (picture me rolling my eyes, and really truly swearing to remember this lesson!!!!). I am willing to unpick everything & change out the lining if that's what it takes. I can be tenacious that way.

I still think this relationship has good possibilities - the attraction is, shall we say, a strong one. ;-) And I'm willing to take responsibility for my lack of forethought - going for looks over practicality, as it were - and make some changes. We're open to all suggestions!

Oh, & btw, while I was buying the cording I found the perfect button, and I have what I think is a fabulous idea for the buttonhole brewing in my brain. I do have hopes. :)

I'll leave you with the 'diamond in the rough' shot I took after laying out the cut pieces:

I hope your relationships are all moving along smoothly :)

***UPDATE***
Lynne was SO spot on with her analysis (in comments below). Here's a shot of the rounded front lining piece after I unpicked it, & laid it on the pattern piece:

The curve on top, & the extra bit at the point, match the wonky bits after it was sewn on....go figure, eh? A new piece has been cut & sewn on, (using Steam-a-seam lite) & we seem to be back on track :) :) :) Thanks Lynne!!!

Growing the Relationship (Peony Vest)

2011-10-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

I'm getting to know more about my new friend, and it's going well so far....lots to learn, but going well :)

Some General Pattern Notes ~

If you look at the envelope renderings, you can see that the rounded front is on the left side of the top, the right side of the vest. The pocket (should you choose to have one) is attached to the rounded front piece, so lay out & cut according to where you want the pocket. I'm right-handed, so I wanted it on the right side. There is no mention of this in the instructions. Actually, there are a LOT of construction details that aren't mentioned in the instructions, but they are LOADED with creative ideas, suggestions, & helpful hints in the artistic/design end of things.

So, if you want your hand held with fitting & construction details, Diane's patterns are probably not a good fit for you. If, however, you like the jump off a diving board into a lake full of unknown & fabulous possibilities, Diane's patterns just might be the perfect platform for you!

Some notes about the fitting process ~

I cut out a straight size Small, but made quite few alterations right off the bat, before sewing up the first (of two) muslins:

Forward shoulder & sloping shoulder (usual adjustments for me, but I ended up doing both of these adjustments even more extremely on the second muslin)
Some darts in the front side pieces, and nipping the waist in, for a bit more shaping. (Note: the description says "The top and vest are easily fitted with bust darts included in the front seamlines." Since there is no further mention of bust darts anywhere in the pattern, I guess she means that YOU can include bust darts if you want to. Which I did do.)
Much shorter. 3-5" shorter. Each of the pieces, back, side backs, side fronts, & 2 fronts, have creative room for varying the lengths & hem shapes - I made them all shorter, and played around with the hemline shapes a bit too.
Cut the armscyes in by quite a bit, & rounded the top of the outer shoulder piece, to avoid the Gladiator Look.
Rounded off the neckline of the side with the point.
Made the pocket a bit smaller, in order to fit the shortened piece.

The Piping Process:

The first step was cutting out yards of bias strips from my silk charmeuse. Diane includes instructions on making continuous strip bias - I've been wanting to do this, so I tried her instructions. The slippery nature of the charmeuse presented some challenges, but I'm OK with what I ended up with; I'm sure it would be much easier with a more stable fabric. These pictures show what I did, but since they're the only pics I took, it's not designed to be a detailed tutorial. That said, my hint about using a smaller cutting mat may be helpful to some of you :)

Cut a rectangle of fabric, and fold the opposite corners over to meet in the middle.
Sew this seam up (RS together), creating a tube. Note: Since each end of this seam has one corner end of the fabric, and one straight edge, the seam end isn't a clean ending. I didn't worry about it...the triangular ends of your fabric end up as scrap pieces anyway. (Which the frugal me, of course, saves for future use!)

Diane's instructions say to use scissors, & basically, just keep cutting a strip of fabric, flipping your tube over & over. If I tried doing it this way, I would have ended up with a ridiculously wavy, uneven, strip of fabric that would need to be cut again in order to even it out!

I wanted to use rotary cutters and an edger, in order to get some semblance of an even strip. Since you're only cutting one layer of fabric, but a tube automatically gives you two layers, my solution was to insert a small cutting mat inside the tube. This way, I could use the rotary cutter, and I just kept adjusting the tube of fabric by setting the cut strip to the side, and rotating the tube to the top of the cutting mat, evening up the cut edge, placing a clear straight edge over the fabric, and cutting the next bit. Hope that makes sense.

Here's where I'm at with the Piping Process, so far:

The 2 left samples are the seams between the pigskin & the silk/cotton. On the left is a sample with unfilled bias strip. The seam allowance is pressed to one side (the silk/cotton side) & topstitched.

The center is filled piping (filled with a nylon cording...I need to get some proper cotton welt/filler cord - any suggestions about brands, suppliers [JoAnn's, which is close to me...?], etc?)

What I know I'll do with these is:

Remove the interfacing from the SA on the pigskin.
Press the SA to the silk/cotton side.
Grade the SA

What I think I want to do is get some proper filler for the piping & use the filled piping option, even though it makes for a bulkier seam, but I'm open to suggestions/opinions from any of y'all....?

The right side sample shows filled piping on the edge of the pigskin. I understitched this, & graded the SA. I like this option for the front edges & neckline; don't know yet if I'll carry this through to the bottom hem. I could topstitch this edge as well, but I think I'll wait to decide on that.

I'm definitely committed to this relationship; I still think it has great possibilities, and I'm determined to do all I can to not muck it up! So far, my date is being very cooperative; that's always a good sign! :)

Any relationship advice is welcome......

Oh, btw, here is a link to some inspiration pieces from Diane's website - enjoy!

Starting a New Relationship (ReVisions Peony Vest)

2011-10-16T01:09:00.000-07:00

This pattern has been winking at me from my stash for well over a year now, and finally, I winked back. Actually, we're officially dating now. I've been sewing a number of fairly ordinary pieces lately, and my creative juices were longing to come out & play, and Diane Ericson's ReVisions Peony Vest seemed like just the right playmate. My play time in the sewing room has been rather limited lately (hence the lack of blogging, if anyone noticed), so a relatively simple vest, with a lot of room for creativity, seemed just the ticket!

This pattern only has a few reviews over at Pattern Review, & some were rather negative, but I was finding pictures of finished pieces elsewhere on the web that looked absotively inspiring! And each one completely different from every other one! I was seeing a LOT of room for playfulness.

After pulling a few fabrics that I thought I wanted, and going "nope....not this one....nor that one....nope...." all of a sudden the right combo practically jumped right on my cutting table. A supple, salmon-colored pigskin & a yummy golden silk/cotton looked like a perfect pairing. A rich, coppery silk for the lining. And what's this? A fruity, flowery silk charmeuse - one of the very few fabrics that somehow made it through all of my purges from my previous sewing life....this piece has to be over 20 years old! Perfect.

I LOVE every one of these fabrics, & knew that there was going to be a lot of playing around with placement, & not a lot of room for mistakes & unpicking, so a muslin was definitely in order.

Did I say relatively simple?

Two (2) muslins later, I was finally ready to cut into my fashion fabric.

Two (2) more FULL evenings of laying out pattern pieces & cutting later, and I still haven't stitched a stitch! Well...I did do a test piece, which only brought up more how-to-do-this questions....but still, every good, lasting relationship takes a little work, and I AM having fun! Really, I am.

A total of 18 pattern pieces, plus a few yards of bias cutting (on slippery silk charmeuse, no less), with little tweaks & added darts & fitting alterations and....oh, yeah, doing it all late at night..... this may take awhile, so it's going to be one of those multiple blog posts items.

Lining, Side Pieces, yards of bias, & pigskin

That picture makes everything look so....non complex. That took me two full evenings??? In my defense, I have learned to go uber-slowly when I'm sewing late at night. We all know what can happen when you're tired and you start rushing....

And I interfaced the pigskin - it was so stretchy that I felt it needed some stability. It's times like that when I think one of those large pressers might just be a good investment! Also, this was the first time I tried making a continuous bias strip....maybe, now that I've done it once, it will actually save time the next time, but trying to figure out how to best do it (remember...late night sewing....) took for-friggin'-ever!

I did play around with a test piece - piping in the seams. I will be doing this; but I'm not sure about the details yet:

All in all, I do believe there's hope for this relationship. I really think I can make it work :)

How are your sewing relationships going for you these days? Do you prefer the one-night stands? Or do you savor the long-term ones, with their inherent ups and downs?

What's with all of the Malware Warnings?

2011-10-03T15:26:00.000-07:00

Is it just me? For over a week now, every time I click on certain blogs, I get a warning sign that says "WARNING! Something's not right here... ***.blogspot.com contains content from hungryzombiecouture dot blogspot dot com, a site known to distribute malware" I just clicked on a new post from one of these sites, and the malware warning also points to adventuresindressmaking dot com as a malware carrier.

It doesn't matter if I click from my Dashboard, from Google Reader, or from my blogroll, I get this message.

I haven't been keeping track of the sites this happened on, but today it happened when I clicked on Stepalica and Lucky Sew and Sew's blogs. I don't want to continue to their site & get their email addresses, so I can't send messages & ask them if they know what's happening.

I have never had a virus issue since I switched to a Mac, so I'm not too concerned for myself, (hope I don't need to be!), but I am concerned for the folks who might be infected..... Is anyone else getting these messages? Is there anything that I, or we, should be doing about this?

Thanks for any advice.....

ETA: A response (I don't think it's directly from Google, but from someone who appears to know what's going on) over at the Google help center:

"There is a widespread issue occurring with Blogger currently. What happened is there is a 3rd party utility from blogutils . net that is used on many Blogger sites and blogutils . net got hacked and the utilty started returning malicious code. Just about every Blogger site using that utility got flagged. blogutils . net has cleaned up the hack and the utility is no longer returning malicious code, but any Blogger site which got flagged by Google will continue to show the warning until a malware review is done by Google and the site is cleared."

ETA.1: Shannon at hungryzombiecouture.blogspot.com is now malware free! (See comment #31 below). Hope the rest of the infected are able to clean things up as well :)

Style Arc - Linda Stretch Pants (at LAST!)

2011-10-01T00:39:00.000-07:00

Did you see the movie "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? It was a story of four girls, with four completely different body shapes, and one pair of magical pants that fit each girl perfectly. With all of the reviews of these pants coming from women with utterly diverse body types, and pretty much unanimous rave reviews about the fit, I can't help but wonder if there's something magical going on...

So of course, in continuation of my Style Arc binge, I simply HAD to include this pattern, in the hopes that it would fit me as well as it does everyone else.

The suggested fabric (and enclosed fabric sample) is for a stretch bengaline, which is a woven fabric with just a small amount of 2-way (not 4-way) stretch. It is apparently easily available in Australia, but not so much in the U.S. (at least in good quality), so us poor non-Aussies have to make do.... I had a mystery fabric that was a nearly perfect match for the sample, albeit a bit thinner & with more drape. Sadly, my (nearly nonexistent) fabric cataloguing methods left me totally clueless about what this fabric was :::eyeroll::: Especially since it really is a great fabric for these pants!

I swear I'm going to change my ways. Definitely. With my next fabric purchase. For sure.

The first thing I did was compare the pattern (size 10, in my case) against my best-fitting pair of RTW stretch pants. The most notable difference was that the Linda pants had a much wider back piece, and a longer crotch curve in the back. Was this the magical fit secret? The overall sizing appeared to be good for me, so I carried on, & cut them out exactly per the pattern, except for the length...

Note on the length: I'm 5'4" (almost) & my legs are proportionately short, so I chopped off almost 3" from the length. (they allow for a 2" hem) I did not allow for how much fabric would be taken up by my *ahem* thighs, so I ended up with less than an inch for hemming - I'll leave more next time! (Yes, there will be a next time) I would say the length allows for a 5'5"-5'6" person; if you're taller, or have long legs, definitely add more!

There are 3 pattern pieces: Front, back, & a folded waistband that is the same for front & back. There's a nice little tip about the recommended stitching sequence in order to "improve the crotch shape". (Sew the inside legs together, then the crotch seam - back to front, then the outside leg seams) I'll believe their method, because something sure seems to work!

They do say to use a "stretch thread" - I'm pretty sure what this means is a "stretch stitch". I used the zig-zag lightning stitch on all of the leg seams, and a long stitch, followed by serging, on the waistband.

The waistband calls for adding 2" wide elastic (optional). Given the stretch of the fabric, you could possibly get away without using any elastic - I considered this, but ended up using 1-1/4" elastic. Partly because I didn't really want elastic THAT wide; partly because that's what I had...you know how it is....

I stitched it into the top fold of the waistband, like so:

1.25" elastic & folded waistband

elastic placed near the fold

elastic stretched & pinned in place

Stitched along the top fold

I then basted the waistband in place, to check the fit - pretty darn good already! The waist sat a little high on me, but then my waist to crotch ratio is on the short side as well. So I trimmed 1/2" off the back of the pants, tapering to 1/4" in front.

These pants could easily be a quick evening project, start to finish, but of course, if you follow my sewing progress, you know by now that I'm going to find something to do to make it a little more challenging....

In this case, the RTW pants I was comparing these to had a little hidden zippered pocket at the waistband, and I decided that would be a fun addition. Which is why, instead of finishing these in one evening, they took 3. The fuzzy brain that goes along with late night sewing was a contributing factor in taking so long to figure out the logistics, but I did end up with a workable pocket. Finally!

If anyone wants to tackle it, (or improve on it - please do let me know if you find a better way of making a pocket like this work) here's what I did (apologies for the fuzzy photos):

I used a C&C invisible zipper (it's what was available on short notice - next time I'll find a sport zip w/ lighter, smaller hardware; this was too bulky!
I cut a length about 4.5" - too short by the time I secured the end & had it sewn in. 5.5" minimum next time!
Sew the waistband on with a long stitch (to be serged later) & leave an opening for the zip.
Sew one side of the zip to the waistband, the other to the pants top

Cut one piece of fabric for your pocket - I serged the edges
Sew the top of the pocket to the waistband seam and the zipper tape, so that your seam is made with the following layers: the 2 raw edges of the waistband, the zipper tape, and the pocket top

Pocket laid in place

Pocket flipped up

Serge the waistband to the pants, making sure you don't catch the lower zipper tape in the stitching. It got tricky around the zipper pull (note the blank, unserged area), but I figured this would all be nice & secure when I topstitched the SA in place.
Note: I really should have used a wider serge stitch - it wouldn't have helped my issues of getting around the zipper pull, but it would have helped with the topstitching!
Clearly, I need to learn more zipper techniques to avoid this issue in the future!

Finished Zipper, open....

And Closed.

Next, I just sewed the pocket in place around the edges - you can see the stitching on the outside, but it's pretty subtle with a good thread match. There is a bump where the zipper pull hardware is; I want to check out some other zipper brands, since I think this whole technique could work well once I get it figured out. I would also place it a little more towards the center, so that the zip pull doesn't sit right above my hip bone.

The 3-finger pocket.
I don't think any pickpockets are going to pull a fast one on me with these pants! ;D
I would definitely want to add an inch in width, but still, the pocket is big enough for a key & a credit card, or even a cell phone :)

And....ta Dah! The finished product:

This is not how I would normally wear pants like this, (shirt tucked into stretch pants = not such a great look) but I wanted to show the fit details, and it's not like anyone but my closest web friends will ever see this picture, right?

Bottom Line? The Sisterhood of the Traveling Linda Pants has been carried on! I'm very happy with the fit overall. (My tummy is a different matter, & it isn't even Thanksgiving yet....rats....But that's what stretch pants are for, right?) I'm not really sure how I can improve on this fit - if anyone sees any solution to the existing wrinkles, do let me know, but overall, they're super comfy & I WILL be making more! I'll definitely cut them a bit longer, & will try them in a slightly heavier fabric. And I won't bother with the pocket in all of them, although I do like my pockets.....

I think it may be time for a bit of Style Arc break for awhile.

That is, unless my Jilly Jeans arrive tomorrow. I mean, JILLY Jeans? What choice do I have, really? I know they weren't really named after me, unlike the shaza pants, which really WERE named after our very own shams.

Which makes me wonder, has anything ever been named after you? Any interesting stories out there about your namesakes?

Style Arc - Fabulous Freda Wrap (fun & fabulous it is!)

2011-09-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's a summer item, and it's (theoretically) now Fall. But I have good reason for that....actually, two good reasons.
#1. Summer has FINALLY arrived in the Bay Area California! The weather is usually nicer here in September/October, but seriously, we had NO summer this summer, and right now (6:00pm) it's 80° outside. And the sun is shining. If only I had a pool..... Of course, this weather won't last....
#2. I actually finished this wrap a few days ago, before this glorious weather hit, and my ulterior motive was to create a tropical vacation (at least in my mind) - I'm dreaming of a tropical trip next year, so I figured I might as well sew for it! It's nice to have this weather now, but I want more! I should sew a swim suit too.......

I just love me a fun wrap or shawl, and this one has just the right touches to make it more versatile than a plain old rectangular bit of fabric - a seam in just the right place, & some elastic placed just so, make for the perfect beachside coverup ....and more!

I chose a silk/cotton voile with a linen look from FabricMart. It's very lightweight, and I loved the looks of the pattern, but it had two minor problems: It was too narrow, and this wrap could actually benefit from a fabric with a bit more drape. The narrow issue was easy: I just added a 4" panel to each end of the wrap. I tried to sort of kind of match the print, but it's just busy enough to not matter too much.

As far as the drape, this fabric might soften a bit over time.

It has a tendency to do the same sort of bunching at the back both when tied above the bust and at the waist, but it's possible that a couple of well-placed darts might work. I might play with the thought. Later.

There isn't really too much to say about the construction, since it's uber-simple. Sew up a seam, insert elastic, and finish your edges. Of course, true to form, I have to create a little something that's going to take more time... in this case, it was just the addition of the panels. I used French seams, because the fabric is pretty thin & a bit sheer, and finished all my edges with a rolled hem. This is a piece that takes more time to cut than it does to sew!

Now the fun part! Depending on your fabric, you can have a comfy beach coverup:

Pull it down to your waist, toss on a top & some shoes & stroll over to the bar:

Note that I have it tied off center -
you can place the tie anywhere for an adjusted look

Or even add some accessories, heels (and a slip), a great belt, & go out to dinner (sorry, no picture of this option....maybe later....) I think it's a perfect tropical or pool destination travel item, especially if you make it in a non-wrinkly fabric!

Another suggested option is to make it from terry for an after shower wrap - I rather like that one, for certain lifestyles.....

Now all I need is a tan & a tropical vacation....

Linda Pants are next! I had to add a little time-consuming extra to those too (a pocket), and since I've only been doing late night sewing recently...well.....you can fill in the blank here....

Style Arc - Bali Bindi Top (Fail)

2011-09-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

This was the first pattern in my latest little Style Arc binge. I see many more SA patterns to be sewn on the horizon, but unfortunately, I don't think this one will be repeated :(

To start with, this top is REALLY oversized, and I'm moving AWAY from oversized tops, not back into them! I loved the sleek look in the pattern drawing, and the unique curving on the hem:

But when I pulled out the pattern pieces (Sz. 8) they looked HUGE. Massive. Gigantic. So I started out by folding out about 1/2" front and back centers (for a total of 2"), but after I had the sides sewn up I removed even more from the side seams. I don't even know how much I removed by the time I was done. A lot.

And then I shortened it by about 6" (this, after I had already sewn on the hem band). I just sliced off the bottom, rather than unpicking everything, so I ended up with a narrower hem band than called for.

I should also mention that I really didn't like the fabric I was using, an unidentified knit; probably a cotton blend. It has horrible recovery, and I didn't like the color much either - it was $2/yrd stuff from Happy Stop, & I swear it was a different color in the store than it was by the time I got it home! At any rate, the remainder is going in my "giveaway box".

Once I saw the pattern pieces I figured I might as well use practice fabric - glad I did that, although I DO think this top would work better in something else. Wish I could tell you what. The sample that came with the pattern (this is a FABULOUS touch that's included in all Style Arc patterns) appears to be a thinnish poly knit, an ITY perhaps? I don't like the feel of ITY, so I've never sewn with it.

What I did like was the concept of using a knit for the body, and a woven for the bands. The neck band, however, is cut on the cross grain, and IF I were to make this again I would cut it on the bias. The neck band gaped a bit, so I took a couple of darts in the band - I did a lousy job, but at this point I was treating this as a probably-unwearable test piece, & didn't much care.

Going backwards, this pattern also had some confusing instructions (but I want to be clear that Style Arc is really paying attention to the fact that so many home sewers are having troubles with the instructions on their older patterns, and the instructions are now being fleshed out, and they are including instructional drawings - I do highly recommend the company!)

The sleeve & neck bindings are simple bindings, but there are some potentially confusing instructions; i.e.:

"Join the sleeve trims and the neck trim" = Sew up the ends of the neck trim, forming a circle. You can't do this to the sleeve trims yet though, because the sleeves are sewn in flat.
"Turn to the right side and edge stitch back to keep the inside seam flat." Based on pictures of a finished garment that Chloe sent to another person who asked about the instructions, I think what they mean is just to top stitch close to the edge, as pictured above.

The hem binding has some more confusing instructions. Based, again, on pictures that Chloe sent, and conversations with other sewists, here's my interpretation:

"Stitch the outside edge of the front and back hem contrast seams together, turn to right side and flat stitch." The front and back hem band consists of two matching pieces for the front, and two for the back. You stitch each set together along the bottom edge (RS together). The SA Dictionary defines "flat stitch" this way: "A row of stitching on the correct side of the fabric close to the edge of the seam, this keeps the seam flat" I would call this a topstitch, but the pictures that Chloe sent show this seam edge stitched along the inside seam allowance - so that the stitching only shows on the inside of the garment. This is how I would do it (but I was getting lazy in my techniques on this top by now, so I didn't bother.)
The rest of the instructions make sense (to me, anyway). They are simply to sew the hem band to the body of the shirt, and "flat stitch" (i.e., top stitch). I serged all of the seams. (Chloe's subject pictures also showed serged seams)

Here's my finished top. The pants I'm wearing, btw, are the Style Arc Linda Stretch pants (still unhemmed and unfinished, so the review will be coming up soon - and this pant is a huge THUMBS UP pattern!)

Interesting how the folds in the fabric & the way the top hangs
make my bust look rather...ummm.... ample, isn't it? Because I'm not.

This is a pretty simple top, and if the style and sizing works for you, I would say go for it! I really thought that I would figure out the alterations I needed to do & try again, but now that I see the finished pictures, I don't think it's worth spending my time on - too many other great patterns out there, & I realize that I really want to be focusing on more fitted lines. This is a knock-around-the-house only top; I'm OK with that.

***Some Additional notes:
1. Chloe emailed me after seeing my review on Pattern Review & said they were asked to do an oversized shirt to wear with leggings, but she thinks they went a bit too far with the "over" lol. She also said they're taking into account the comments about instructions. I tell ya, their customer service could not possibly be improved on - they really rock!!!
2. My short legs & wide butt do not make this pattern the best choice for a flattering look on me. I'm still learning how to transfer a pattern image to fabric on my body & knowing what will work!
3. My fabric choices were not the best for this pattern: a heavy knit with poor recovery, paired with a heft, tightly-woven trim fabric, could have been improved on. A lighter, drapier knit, and a woven that has a bit more give, would be better choices, I think.

Coming up: The Fabulous Freda review, and, as soon as they're finished, the Linda Pants review.

Artists and Sewists and Fashion, Oh My! (Artistry in Fashion 2011)

2011-09-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended my first Artistry in Fashion event, held annually at Canada College in Redwood City - it will NOT be my last time!

Some of the strongest impressions that I had:

The attendees were mostly women, probably mostly 30-ish on up, and I was struck by the fact that so many truly beautiful women were all gathered in one spot. Not glossy-magazine beautiful, but beautiful in the sense that they carried themselves with confidence, dressed with attention to detail, and exhibited a creative, artistic flair in clothing and accessories that showcased an authentic attitude of "I know who I am".
The designer/artist booths! Oh my gosh - overwhelm! I think there were almost 100 booths, and every. single. one was filled with amazing artistry - clothing, fabric, jewelry, accessories. It's juried, and done well!
The Canada Campus is a lovely one - especially on a warm & sunny day. The designer booths were all outside (& me without sunscreen or a hat - yikes!) Apparently quite a bit of construction has been going on there, & I think it will be a lovelier campus when some trees have grown up & brought some more natural beauty back, but it was a perfect place for an event like this.
Of course, the people/friends/fellow sewists! It was such a great venue to keep running into people I've met through my local sewing group, meet some bloggers for the first time, and be introduced to some wonderful new sewing friends :)
I don't think I've ever been to a fashion show before....this may not have been an international runway event, but seeing the designers' works showcased, and Lyla Messinger's patterns presented, was really inspirational! Lyla was the featured speaker, and while I missed her talk, I made up for it by inspecting everything in her booth (and chatting with her a bit, and, of course, spending some $$ there!)

I could have spent time taking pictures of the amazing work displayed & the lovely women I saw, but I pretty much forgot that I had my camera with me, because it was much more fun to just chat with everyone & play with all the goodies first hand ;-)

What I came home with:

My birthday present! OK, it's not for another month, but birthdays are supposed to start early & end late anyway, right? These are felted scarves from harlequin feltworks, and I love love LOVE them!!!! Made of all natural fibers (silk and wool), and with eco-friendly processing to boot. It doesn't get much better than this!

Here are a few of the infinite ways you can drape these scarves:

I can't wait for scarf-wearing weather!!!! By the way, many of the designers have lines that are carried in museum stores and higher end clothing stores, and the prices at this event are deeply discounted in comparison! Update: Holy Crap. I just looked at the online prices of these scarves. I knew I was getting a good price, and I'm not even going to tell you how much I paid, but I will say this - if you want an INCREDIBLE bargain on one of these scarves, come to AIF next year!

One of my favorite vendors was the button lady, "Missing A Few Buttons". She has no web presence, but oh my gosh does she have buttons! I could have spent a mortgage payment at her booth (readers may have noticed by now that I have a bit of a button fetish - especially if they're vintage)

I picked up a few glass buttons from the 1800's, and my favorite - some Victorian "perfume buttons":

What's a "perfume button", you ask? (I didn't know either). The colored bits in the metal buttons are velvet, and the well-dressed Victorian lady would put a drop of perfume on the velvet, so that she could take a delicate whiff of her nice perfume as she walked through the sewage-filled roads of town. I think I will say no more.....

And, as I mentioned, I stocked up on a few goodies from Lyla Messinger (LJ Designs):

Some patterns, a fun-looking Tips & Techniques book, and some Riri zips designed by Lyla (closeouts at a GREAT price, so I couldn't resist.....)

I usually avoid posting a pic that's THIS unflattering, but at least you'll get a sense of how quickly a warm, sunny California day can shift to freezing-arse cold evening when the fog rolls in with a chilly wind:

Trying to stay warm with shams...

And I can only dream of looking as elegant and gorgeous as Margy, even with a cold wind whipping our hair about:

Artistry in Fashion, I will return! Until next year......

I'm on a Style Arc Binge! #1 = Island Ali

2011-09-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

The stuff of life has left me rather stitchless and blogless for the past couple of weeks, but I finally had some sewing time the last 3 days, and I dove head first into Style Arc Land! Three patterns down, and more to come...

Island Ali Top

This was actually #3, but it's my favorite, so I'm starting with this one. I LOVE the results, but I have a lot to say about the process...

First off, Style Arc in general, the Good:

Fantastic, personal customer service. If you aren't sure what size to order (the patterns are one size only, not multi-sized, so you need to order the right size) just e-mail your measurements to Chloe & she'll help you out.
Really well-drafted patterns, with RTW fit
Great style!
Patterns printed on heavy white paper (or even heavier card stock)
You get one FREE pattern with every order
Fresh new patterns are available every month.

And the Not-so-good:

Sparse - REALLY sparse, instructions (Side Note: I understand that they are now adding more detailed instructions, with drawings - Yay!) (Side-by-Side Note: I emailed Chloe with some comments & questions about the instructions, and received a delightful & timely response, with examples of the new instructions. Great News! They are REALLY listening to the concerns, and are not only making an effort to include wonderfully detailed instructions, with illustrations, but they will be going back over their older patterns & updating the instructions on them, as time allows) Actually, this is the only 'not-so-good' I've found so far. Oh no wait, one more, but it really has nothing to do with Style Arc, per se...
The patterns are relatively heavy (see above), and postage from Australia can really make you blink fast & think twice about how much you're spending!

Bottom Line:

Style Arc is a pattern company that deserves to succeed. With patterns as stylish and well-drafted as theirs, and the passion for serving the sewing community they exhibit, they just flat out rock!

Back to Island Ali: This top is really a pretty easy one to sew up, but I spent a ridiculous amount of time figuring out the little details that weren't in the instructions. Some of the instructions are written on the short instruction notes, some of them are on the pattern pieces themselves (so you need to keep the pieces handy while sewing), and some are left to your own imagination, or experience.

Here's the top:

Cute, eh?

Step 1. is "Lay pattern on fabric and cut" Really? With everything you leave out, you had to include that one? Sorry, I'm being snitty. I LOVE this company, I really do, and I will definitely be ordering more patterns (probably many more), but there were so many OTHER steps I wish you would have included instead of this one!

Step 2. is sewing the shoulder seams. Yup - logical & in total agreement here. I did stabilize the seam with Stay Tape, as I always do with knits, but that isn't a step I expect the pattern maker to include.

Step 3. is sewing on the neck band. I have only minor comments on this - the instructions say "Fold the neck bind in half and join and then stitch to the neck, turn inward to the wrong side of body and top stitch down with a 1/4 inch stitch". Now, if you're really trying to follow instructions, this befuddles me a bit - if you have any experience sewing bindings, it's no problem....just do it your way, but if you're a beginner....well, I would be lost already. Maybe it's just me (I do like my pictures guiding me!) I stitched the ends of the binding together, and then folded & pressed it, so that the seam is totally enclosed. A tiny little detail that COULD be written is "sew the binding to the Right Side of the neck, then turn inward" I know, I know, it's a niggly little thing, & it does become clear when you read on, but still.....I'm just being all anal & detail-oriented here, so bear with me!

At this point I thought there was a lot of bulk at the seam line, so I pinked the raw edge before turning it.

Binding Pinned in place

Edge pinked, and excess fabric snipped away from seam crossings

You now have a binding that's about 1/2" wide - if you top stitch at 1/4" (which is where I thought it best) you have quite a bit of extra fabric between the stitch line and the fold of the binding. I would cut the binding a bit narrower next time (yes, there will be a next time - I do love this top!)

Moving on to Step 4. "Edge stitch the outer flounce edge." I thought about this one, & read through the rest of the instructions, & realized that this was the only finish given for the hemline edge of the sleeve/flounce. I decided to go ahead & edge stitch it (at 1/4" - this line is indicated on the pattern piece) & deal with the hem later. This was my first mistake, but only because the pointed ends of the flounce are enclosed in the side seams, so any hemming needs to be hand stitched at those points. You're better off, for a nicely finished look, to do any hemming at this point. Later on, I did a rolled hem with my Featherweight, pictured below:

I hadn't used my rolled hem foot on a knit before, but I was happy with the way it turned out. When you do a rolled hem with one of these vintage feet on a bias cut, or curves, it can easily go wonky & wavey on you, but with the knit fabric, and on a flounce than can handle a bit of waviness, it actually worked quite well! :)

Step 5. "Stitch the flounce to the front body starting at the waist...." (bold added by me) This was my second mistake. The waist referred to here is indicated on the pattern piece, and it is NOT the waist seam (where you join the skirt to the body of the top & add elastic....which is going to sit at your waist.....) I stitched the flounce on from the bottom of the front to the bottom of the back, where the elastic seam would be. Not a big deal in the long run, but the look would definitely be more refined if the flounce started and ended where the pattern marks indicate it should.

Really, I do rather like having the seam allowances marked on the pattern pieces, but could we have a little mention in the body of the instructions when you're supposed to match up some notches that are not otherwise obvious? Thank you. (again...hope I'm not sounding like a grinchy bitch here...really, truly, I DO love these patterns!) Mostly, I'm making notes for my future sewing of this, and hoping to help any other sewists (particularly novices) avoid the mistakes I made.

Steps 6, 7 & 8 are about joining the side panels, the front & back body pieces, & the flounces, then attaching the skirt pieces. All pretty clearly written...no issues here (*whew*) :) Oh wait! I remembered another point - the underarm edge (which is at the top of the side panels) is left raw. If you want any sort of finish on it, do so before you attach the side pieces to the front piece.

Step 9. is "Cut and join the elastic to your measurement and stitch to the waist/hip seam" Maybe they mean to stitch the elastic directly to the fabric, or maybe they just expect you to do it your own way... I dunno. But I don't care for elastic that isn't actually inserted inside a casing, unless it's underwear (& even that is questionable)...maybe that's just me...at any rate, this is what I did:

Cut a strip of fabric 3/4" wide (the elastic is 1/4") & sewed one side to the seam that joins the body to the skirt. I then trimmed the seam close to the stitch line.

I folded the casing along the stitch line, up towards front & back pieces, & stitched the other side of the casing (leaving the top edge raw) I then inserted the elastic in the casing.

This shows the casing, side seams, and the bottom of the skirt with a rolled edge hem. Note: I didn't like the waviness of the rolled edge at the bottom, so I ended up turning the bottom hem up & straight stitching a hem.

There is no mention about hemming the bottom, or any more finishing on the flounce edges. If you look at the drawings, you can see topstitching indicated along the side front & back seams - no mention of this anywhere in the instructions. (I didn't do it on this top, but it could be a nice look).

One change that I plan to make next time is to cut FOUR sleeve/flounces so that I can line them. I'll join them RS together, turn & top stitch the outer edge. Since the inside of the sleeve is visible, this would give a nice, finished look & you won't need to deal with that exposed edge/hem.

I think that's it.... hope my notes are helpful to anyone else wanting to try this top - I really think it's worth it, and it's actually a pretty quick & easy top to make, once you know what you're doing!

The results:

I tried it tucked in & belted. The lighting is poor on this shot, but I think the look works just as well as worn loose. I actually also played with hiking the shirt up so the the elastic rides higher on the body, and that was a good look too, so there are wearing options here!

Next up (when I get some pics taken): the Style Arc Fabulous Freda, and the Bali Bindi top

The Space Between the Thoughts

2011-09-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

Today, may we find space in our hearts for a little more peace, a little more unconditional love, a little more awareness of ourselves and our relationships with others.

Feeling grateful for all of my opportunities, the friends (both seen and unseen) who surround me, and the freedom to choose how I react to anything that might happen. May I make my choices wisely, and remember to involve the power of the compassionate heart.

A Few Tips for Working With Silk - Luscious, Luxurious, Silk!

2011-08-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

I love Silk - the feel against the skin, the rich, luxurious luster of the fabric, the richness of the colors, the way that light and color play with the drape, and on the practical side, the warmth & breathability of the garments, .....but sewing with it & achieving perfect results? Hmmm, that can be more of a challenge than an easy-flowing love affair....

I'm talking about the finely woven threads here - the stuff that frays when you look at it, the fabrics that slip and slide all over under your fingers when all you want it to do is stay still. The fine charmeuses & slippery linings; the light weight habotais & the chiffons that float off your fingers as you're trying in vain to tame it with a needle & thread...

I've made a few silk garments this past year - my learning curve has been rather steep, and while I'm no expert at working with any fabric, I hope it might be helpful to gather my thoughts around a few of the techniques I've learned that have added to my joy, and eased the angst, of working with this special fabric.

Washing. For several reasons (frugality is certainly up there), I prefer to be able to wash my clothes at home, and I haven't yet met a silk that I'm afraid to wash. With very few exceptions, the first time I wash a cut of silk, it goes into the washer, on a delicate cycle, and I let it ride out the whole cycle. A sturdier silk will sometimes go into the dryer as well, but I pull it out before it's completely dry, and finish by letting it hang dry, giving it a press while still a bit damp. More delicate fabrics get hand washed - I use a delicate soap like Eucalan, and dark colors, or anything that bleeds, will get a vinegar rinse as well. All hand washed silk gets lifted from the water (without squeezing it), laid on a towel, and rolled up to let the towels soak up the moisture, then I hang it to dry, and again, give it a press just before it's completely dry.

After the garment is made, I'll either hand wash it (the more delicate fabrics), or wash it in the machine, using the following method:
Gentle soap, Delicate Cycle.
Remove the garment before the final spin - if it's still very wet, roll in towels
Hang Dry
Press while it's still just a little bit damp.

Cutting. Two techniques changed my silk-cutting life forever!
1. Starch, or spray starch, the fabric. A light starch treatment can make all the difference in stability, both while cutting, and during the sewing process. I also use a rotary cutter, to avoid any lifting/distorting of the fabric.
2. Place your fabric over a layer of tissue paper to cut. My Frugal Self (I should just give her a name - she emerges so often - MFS?) collects all the free patterns with large pieces that come her way - things like 60's caftans, big skirts, oversized jumpers - garments I will never sew, and don't know anyone else who will. It's the perfect paper to stabilize delicate fabrics while cutting. Simply lay your fabric over the paper, pattern piece on top, weight it down, & cut. (Aside: Oh. My. Goddess. I bow to the rotary cutter deities! LOVE this tool, which I didn't know existed before re-entering the sewing world last year!)

Sewing Techniques: I know there are many, many more techniques ahead of me to learn, but here are a couple of my favorites at the moment:

Silk Thread. Fine, thin, strength in the sewing machine - Yay! I'm still learning about which brands are good, (TIRE is one) but it's really nice using a fine thread that sinks into the fabric and actually seems to reflect the color of the fabric around it, so that it doesn't jump out at you & say "Look at me! I'm a row of crooked stitching!" ;-) It should (I think) go without saying that a sharp, new needle is important as well.

Here's a pressing technique that I love! I know I read about this either on someone's blog, or a PR review, and I have to apologize that I don't remember where. For accurate pressing & stitching on narrow turns & edges, the results absolutely rock!

This is a charmeuse, with an edge that needs to be turned and top-stitched in place. I measured the turn, clipped the curves, and pinned it directly onto the ironing board with glass head pins:

Press all along the edge, and leave the piece in place on the ironing board until it's cool, and you have nice sharp, accurate edge. By the way, I've mentioned it before, but I still LOVE that Reliable V100 iron!

Pin in place, & you're ready to stitch!

How is your relationship to silk? I would love to hear any tips & techniques that you have to share......

On another note, I'm breathing out with a smile for all our East Coast readers, knowing that Hurricane Irene chose to mellow, rather than grow in wrath. I hope your damage, if any, was minimal :)

The Saga of the 21st Party Dress

2011-08-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

OK, maybe not really a saga, but since this was my first attempt at making something sort of fitted for someone who wasn't around for me to actually fit it on, this dress seemed to take forever. I fretted over what I could do based on the measurements I had, what had to be finished first, & what could wait until the very last moment, when I could actually put it on the body it was meant for. Which was scheduled to happen the day before she left for a year in Spain. No pressure though.....

This was a birthday present for a very special young woman in my life, who is now officially a 21-year adult! (Wasn't it only a couple of short years ago that she sat on my lap for hours on end as we watched the fish swim around in my aquarium???) But I digress.....

Laurel was visiting a couple of months ago when I told her I wanted to sew her something special, & we sat down with my patterns & the fabric stash. Together we chose this pattern & this vintage silk sari fabric, with a vision of a party dress for her:

We discussed some options, I took measurements, & sent her on her merry way, not to be seen again until the day before delivery. Oh, how quickly I realized how I rely on being able to do regular fittings!!!! The other fact I realized early on was how VERY fragile, old, & flat out unusable so much of the sari silk was. The heavily embroidered edge was mostly OK, but the base fabric was so fine that it was actually near shredded in many areas. I was only going to be able to use it for the bodice. Stash came to the rescue with the perfect pink silk underlining, so the bodice was underway:

I wanted to match the trim on each side, but if you look closely,
you'll see some ripped embroidery 2/3 of the way down the trim.
I filed this under the "deal with it later" category.....

Laurel loved the cornflower blue color, so I was hoping to find a color match for the skirt. No such luck :( I wanted silk, but NOTHING I found worked, in any fabric....so I looked through the golds/yellows, and settled on a pale yellow habotai, bought it, cut it...and realized that I didn't have enough. On top of which, I didn't really like the color anyway.

Back to the fabric store.

I returned with some silk habotai in a gold color, but it was really too TOO sheer Another lesson: It just wasn't registering that habotai comes in quite a range of weights. & still, not QUITE the right color. Bummer. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm receiving all these messages about a disaster in the making, but that didn't deter me from blundering on..... & then an Aha! moment (with some help from the discerning eyes of friends) and I realized that LAYERING the gold over the pale yellow produced the perfect color combination! *whew*

Remember that I didn't have enough of the pale yellow fabric? By using it as an underlayer, I was able to get enough fabric by using up all of the narrower strips of leftover fabric. I decided not to sew them together, but finish the edges, ending up with 6 strips of fabric (2 wide ones in the front & back, & 2 narrower ones on each side). There was some reasoning to this madness - since the overall circumference of this underlayer was going to be smaller than the outer layer, this would allow for more freedom of movement - Laurel is a dancer, after all - and a very good one, I might add! (can you tell how proud of her I am?)

Finishing all those edges allowed lots. and lots. of practice with my rolled hem foot. I daresay that by the end of this dress I was getting pretty darn good at sewing with that foot! At least on straight edges. Curves are another matter. But I digress again...

Rolled hem foot & Collette the Featherweight at work...

Oh, one more thing. She wanted pockets. One side was designated for a zipper, & after giving a bit of thought to having pockets on both sides, & looking at the calendar, & realizing that I wasn't even sure how I was going to put a pocket in the non-zip side, (& looking at the calendar again) I figured that one pocket was enough. It really didn't take too much futzing, and the pocket ended up looking fine. I French seamed the pocket edges for strength. Here's the pattern draft:

I gathered the two skirt layers & attached them to the bodice (there was another period of angst here when I thought I had WAY too much bulk......did a bit of ripping & changed some of the gathers to soft pleats & started breathing easier again.... A side note: I had spray starched the skirt fabrics to make them easier to work with, and I just hoped that a wash would relax the skirt, because I was freaking out at the amount of poofiness it had at this point. Especially since I really didn't know how the fit was going to be, and with all of the gathers & the delicacy of the bodice fabric, there just wasn't going to be a whole lot of room for alteration by the time it was all put together.

Oh, & did I mention that the waist is an angled empire? High in the front, & lower in the back? I didn't exactly take THAT measurement.....

So now I have one bodice side seam sewn (French seams), the other is still open waiting for a zipper, the skirt is attached, and it's time to clean up that empire seam.

The dress sat on my dress form. For several weeks. Time is getting short. I need to dive in, & hope for the best. No turning back after this step.,.... (I said this was a saga. Are you still with me?)

Seam, trimmed & ready for some sort of finishing.

I found some seam binding in stash (LOVE that stash!!!) & sewed it with some vague semblance of stitching in the ditch (I couldn't actually see the ditch through the binding so I was ditchin' blind.... plus time was getting short, & it's going to be covered on the outside, & I've long since accepted that this is not a couture piece. Heh.)

Seam binding turned up & stitched along the other edge

Now it's play time! I wanted to do some braiding along the empire seam, so I started playing with options. I also wanted some sort of closure at the neckline, since it was rather...ermmm....plunging. I lucked out & found the PERFECT shade of blue that was the background color in a silk I had (have I mentioned how much I LOVE having a stash???) :D I covered some buttons with the blue, and crossed one more "whatamIgonnadohere?" question off the list.

I can't put the zipper off any longer. It has to go in before the fitting. Say another little prayer that it will fit OK (while thinking about the possibility of darts, elastic....anything that I might be able to do to adjust the fit, if necessary ....just don't. be. too. SMALL!!!)

The edge waiting for the zipper.
Have I mentioned how delicate & fray-prone the fabric is?

I inserted the zip, but don't have any shots of until later - at this stage I was focused more on getting it done, not taking pictures! Tip: I sewed the zip in at the waist seam, about 1" in each direction, to ensure that the waistline was even before sewing the entire zipper. This way I only had to rip out a couple of inches of stitches. Twice. [grin]

I ended up using some of the blue-background fabric for the braid - the other colors in the pattern blended well with the dress, so it was perfect. I made some tubes, & enlisted my lovely little vintage reproduction sewing bird to help:

Remember the ripped threads I mentioned on the bodice trim?
Time to deal with that now...

Have I mentioned how nasty those metallic threads can be to control?
It took several attempts to get one of those little blue flowers cut & turned without having sprays of gold metal sticking out everywhere....

Finally, I feel like I'm making progress! Braid is done (and I LOVE the braiding!), rip is covered....
it's going to be done in time!

I'm still praying that it will fit OK though......

And it does!!!!! Well, mostly. A few tweaks around the armscye, and we figured out where to place the buttons & how to work the closure, measure for the hem, and I have a few hours to finish up! We're all thinking shades of Project Runway deadline along about now.....

I gathered the armscye at the front bodice a bit -
unfortunately, one side ended up fitting perfectly,
the other side still has a bit of a gap when she's wearing it.
Maybe I'll be the only one who notices? Yeah right.....

Zipper. Inserted. Armscye binding partially inserted. I'm not happy. :(

There were a lot of lessons learned (hopefully) in the insertion of the zip & the armscye binding. Time was running out, so this side seam ended up in the "it is what it is" category. The turn of the cloth in a binding, when you're sewing over several layers (like, say, a French seam, or a zipper tape) takes up a LOT of fabric. A LOT. It finally hit home, and hopefully I'll account for that next time around. I ended up with a little point at the top of the zipper, & a gap in the binding that I'm still not sure how to deal with, but I just didn't have time to do research or practice, so there you have it. The gap in the braid is another aspect that could look a tad bit [koffkoff] more finished, but again, I'll blame lack of time (and late night sewing, at this point!) At least this is a side seam, not front & center!

The buttons are placed, the arm bindings are on, I made spaghetti straps for the button closures, and made another blue circle to balance out the one hiding the ripped threads. Almost done!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the V in the back had some major issues with delicate, shredded fabric. That needed to be covered, but this one was a winning 'design factor', I think :)

Next morning, the delivery as the Birthday Girl stopped by on her way to the airport (and Spain. For a year. I'll miss her!!!)

She happened to be wearing a sports bra that was a PERFECT match for the blue!
So the option for a more modest look is already there - how lucky was that?

I think she likes it :) One more completed project. I'm happy.

Silk Screen on Fleece (a quick & easy project)

2011-08-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

Who knew that silk screening could be so EASY?! I was about to find out, with my first ever silk screen on an actual garment..... [gulp]

Test Piece

I was getting ready to blog my latest project, knowing that the post had the possibility of turning into 1000 word tome (yeah, it was one of THOSE projects) when I got sidetracked by the fact that I was wearing the fleece vest I made earlier this year (I know, I live in sunny California, & the sun IS shining today, but still it was windy, foggy, & chilly when I got dressed), and was thinking about silk screen projects...... I looked at my vest, looked at my bucket of silk screen supplies, and the next thing I knew, I was on the kitchen floor surrounded by fleece scraps & possibilities....

Clockwise from the top: Jacquard Textile Color in black, a plastic syringe from something-or-other, Twin Leaves silk screen from Marcy Tilton, a silk screen squeegee, a bucket of clean water, and a test sample. All sitting on a piece of plastic sheeting.

Here's the vest, ready to go (after saying a little prayer that it would go as smoothly as the test pieces did):

I placed the screen on a pocket, drew up some paint into the syringe, & squeezed out a line at the top edge of the screen:

I pulled the paint down the screen with the squeegee (no pics, only 2 hands available & they were both busy). Note: in previous tests I had tried using a credit card or a paint sponge to pull the paint, but I decided that it was worth investing in a proper squeegee for the best effect. I think I was right! The art supply store had limited option in these small sizes, so I got a plastic handled squeegee & cut it to size for my specs. It worked great!

In less than five minutes, I had this!:

I'm delighted! Now I wait about 24 hours, then I'll set it with a press from the iron (since this is fleece, I'll see what works best for the pressing & report back)

UPDATE: After a day, I gave the prints a press with a hot, dry iron - 2 passes, pressing for 10 seconds each time. Then I tossed the test pieces in the wash (warm water) & a hot drier. This is NOT how I plan to wash the vest (cold water wash, hang to dry). I should have washed one of the test pieces the same way I plan on washing the vest....20/20 hindsight. At any rate, the paint faded quite a lot with this abuse:

Test piece on the left, back of jacket on the right.

Even the faded paint looks OK, so I won't fret about it, but as I said, I won't be washing my vest that vigorously!

All in all, I'm a happy screener :)

Silk Screening! I'm stoked!! Have you done silk screening on fabrics? Any tips, or posts to link & share?

Some of my favorite Vintage sewing accessories

2011-08-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

These are a few of my faaaaavorite things........

I don't have the spontaneous time available to me these days to spend a Saturday morning perusing the local estate/garage sales as often as I would like, but when I do get a chance, I get inordinately excited when I find a sale that's loaded with vintage sewing goodies....finding a stash of unusual buttons can make me positively giddy with delight!

The other day I found this Orco Tack-It marker:

For $1. I'm good with that. Especially since it still had all of the original colored marking sheets with it...you know, the ones with a waxy surface that actually make a mark on the fabric! I've tested it out, & I LOVE it! SO quick & easy - one little tap on the metal bit & both sides of your fabric have a lovely little circle. Apparently this was first made sometime in the 50's, although the artwork on this box is positively 60's. I'll be getting some use out of this one!

Another marker that's dear to me for many reasons is this little plastic pin chalk goodie:

One of the reasons it's so special is that I've had this for as long as I can remember (no cracks about the memory from you - that concussion was honestly earned!). It may have been my Mom's, or I might have bought it as a teenager - what's amazing is that I STILL have a (dwindling) supply of chalk for it! You use it by stamping out a circle on the pattern piece with the little metal bit on the end of the bottom piece, then stick the pin through the hole in the pattern, match up the other half on the other side of your fabric, give it a couple of twists, & you have both sides of the fabric marked with a dot. It's great for marks in the center of the fabric.

Another oldie, with history, is my Mother's Wiss Pinkers:

These puppies survived more paper-cutting than any good scissors should have to endure! But hey, if you're an incorrigible youngster with creative longings, and you have access to something that makes those pretty jagged cuts, what would you do? These pinks are probably older than I am, but in spite of all the abuse from my stubby little childhood hands, a good professional sharpening last year gave these lovelies a good many more years of quality use :-) Oh, & NO ONE gets to play near paper with them...

This one is not vintage, but a reproduction - my Sewing Bird, aka third hand:

The beak on that baby is strong! I may only use it a couple of times a month, but it has a permanent home on the edge of a cabinet, ready to serve every time I need something to be grabbed while I work the other end. I've used it to hold a seam steady while I unpick, hold the ends of something I'm braiding, grab an end of something to measure or stretch, hold some yarn in place while I'm twisting it....a fantastic little multi-tasker! If I saw a 'real' vintage one of these at an an estate sale I would snatch it up in a heartbeat!

Last, but definitely not least, my favorite Foot of the moment - the narrow hemmer:

Ahhhh, makes me smile just to look at it! I finally mastered the technique, and wondered why I thought it was so hard before! No more silly, fiddly, measuring & edge stitching & pressing.....just feed the fabric & get a perfect rolled hem!

Rolled hem on fray-prone silk? Easy peasy! :)
That's Collette, my trusty Featherweight, happily hemming away :)

What are your oft-used & favorite vintage notions/accessories? Any odd ones to share? Or great finds & good stories?

The Coat of Many Colors - and my first Style Arc Pattern!

2011-08-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

Style Arc patterns are receiving rave reviews from bloggists & Pattern Reviewers, and finally, given last month's sale, I joined the bandwagon & placed a nice hefty order. Hey, they're coming all the way from Oz (aka Australia), so I figured I might as well make it worthwhile for the post carriers, right? I feel for the Ausies and the amount of postage they have to pay on a regular basis if they're ordering anything from elsewhere - that postage cost was a bit painful on the wallet!

I was THIS delighted when my patterns arrived, and dove right into the patterns & my fabric stash to see what paired up. This Fabric Mart rayon stripe (which I originally had other, far different, plans for) practically jumped right on top of the Bella wrap, & it was love at first sight. Who can argue with that?

= Meant to Be!

Besides that, life has been a bit chaotically busy lately, & the sewing projects I've been working on are either rife with head-scratching decision-making, lots of guess-work figuring out how to ensure something will fit someone who isn't available for fittings, &/or loaded with a steep learning curve. Fun & exciting? Yes! Relaxing & quick? Uhh....no. This explains my recent absence from blogland, but really, I was ready for something to be finished - a nice quick fix, & this looked like it would fill the bill perfectly.

First off, some notes about Style Arc. Apparently each pattern is hand drafted, and done beautifully, with RTW industry standards in drafting. Nice paper, lovely print. The Bella Wrap is one size only, but if a pattern comes in several sizes, you'll only get one size in your envelope. You need to look at their measurement/size chart to figure out what you need, but if you are at all confused, they are extremely helpful & right there with personal service, answering questions - great service! My emails were all answered promptly. I joined the Professional Pattern Club, because of some fantastic discounts available last month, & ordered....well.....I ordered a bunch! :D

Now then, about those instructions..... reviewers have said they were minimal. How about mini-minimal? Maybe even ultra-mini-minimal? Not to mention the language barrier. Oh...you think Ausies speak English? Think again! (& my ex was an Ausie....I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the language!) The Bella Wrap is super simple; no problems with this one at all, but I looked through a couple of the more complex patterns I ordered, and I've no doubt I'll be e-mailing for help! I understand that they are planning on adding more detailed instructions to some of the patterns. After all, not all of us are industry-savvy when it comes to reading patterns.

Ahh...but back to Bella. There are 6 steps. Step 1 is lay out & cut the pattern. Step 5 is to press the piece when you're done. Step 6 is to think about personalizing it with embellishments. That leaves 3 construction steps. Which are, basically, sew up the seam & turn & sew the edges. There is one pattern piece. A simple rectangle. Now, one could think "I paid money for this?" But here's the thing. It's brilliant! I loves me my simple shawls & wraps, & I made (& really like) the dkny knock-off cardi-wraps, but the simplicity of this rectangle, with its one seam, the dimensions & seam cut & sewn just so....well....it is now my all-time bar none favorite wrap! I will be making more! Here's just a sampling of the many ways it can be worn:

LOTS of wrapping options! This is really only a smattering. It could definitely be improved by using a yarn-dyed fabric, or something that is equally beautiful on both sides, but I'll really enjoy wearing this one as is. And since we (still) haven't had any summer to speak of (everyone else seems to be sweltering....can we have a few of those degrees here????) I'm actually wearing it already *sigh*

I'm still open for doing a house trade with someone in the tropics...... ;-D

Other notes on the pattern: Although it calls for a knit, I think that any drapey woven should work nicely. I cut the pattern straight from the package, so it hangs a little long on me, but I'm fine with the length. It's SO simple that it would, of course, be very easy to shorten or lengthen.

I can't wait to dive into my next Style Arc pattern - indies rock, once again :) :) :) First, though, it's back to one of those more challenging, half-done projects......

Which makes me wonder, do you sneak an easy snack in the middle of something that's taking forever? Are you like me - just such a slow sewer that I need something quick just to feel like I'm accomplishing SOMEthing after all that time in the sewing room? Or do you just dive in & whip 'em out, without really needing a simple little snack?

How Jilly Got Her SewJo Back (& a tour of my little sewing room)

2011-07-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

Here's where I was for over a week: Messed up bias seams, unruly ruffles, botched cutting jobs, unusable fabric purchases, unpicking stitches, re-tracing pattern pieces.....we've all been there, in bits & pieces, right? (please say "yes")! But hey, one glitch right after another, after another, after another???? My general life attitude is pretty positive, but enough was enough! Time to take a break....

I decided that I needed to focus on projects that were either un-muckable, or easily fixable even if I did manage to muck them up. And get my SewJo, and my Life Mojo, grounded & focused again.

Here's what I've been doing this past week:

1. Weed Therapy!!!! You can either pull the little buggers out with loving kindness, or with aggression...either way, the results in your garden can't help but replace a smile to your face.

I think I have a truck load ready for you, Gary.....

2. Clutter Clearing. Sometimes the junk yard is your best friend. Let someone else decide if this ~~piece of junk~~ old object is a treasure in disguise!

Just in case you didn't think that was a truck load,
here's what's hiding behind the weed pile.....

3. Pad the dress form. Queenie, the lovely vintage dress form that was part of a fabulous free haul (& only took about 2 months of de-smoke therapy before I could actually bring her into the sewing room) was never going to look like me without some major adjustments. Fabulous Fit to the rescue! She's still not perfect (like me - I mean....well, hopefully you know what I mean....) but close enough to get a good idea of fit without having to contort myself while avoiding pin pricks.

Not the best shot of The Queen, but this leads into the next step......

4. Re-organized my fabric stash, which also evolved into some re-organization of the sewing room. FINALLY got the bookshelf built! (It's not finished aesthetically, but it's functional)

The Sewing Room Tour:

Penelope, Colette, & Joey Janome, at your service :)

The cork board is my new Design/Project Board, ready to be filled with inspiration!

Sergio the Serger. I kept draping pattern pieces over the doorway,
which was not the most efficient spot, & realized I had a solution already hanging on the wall :)

The new book nook is hiding behind The Queen -
it's a little slice of organizational heaven having all my books & files at my fingertips,
instead of pawing through piles!!!

I turned my cutting table so that I can drop a leaf when
I'm not actually in the middle of cutting a project out.
My tiny room can use every square inch of available floor space!

5. Got a mani/pedi & bought a new pair of sandals to show it off! Since I haven't had a mani/pedi for well over a year, & can't remember the last time I bought a brand new pair of shoes, this was a bit of a splurge for me.

The jury's still out on the fabric flowers,
but who knew that platform wedges could actually be COMFORTABLE!
And I LOVE the view from way up here!!!!!

6. Clean & dust & scrub & vacuum &......all that house stuff that can get overlooked when you're engrossed in.....other stuff. AAahhhhhhhh.......a clean house!!!!! Another little slice of mundane heaven to enjoy!

7. Meditate. Daily. At least. Ahhhhhhh.......... :) This is another practice that's been too infrequent lately. Lots of ~~justifiable reasons~~ silly excuses, but my life sure flows a lot more smoothly when I begin my day with some focused introspection & divine inspiration :)

8. Spend quality time with friends, who don't care if your mojo is missing....they love you anyway :) :) Bask in that love & support. :) :) :)

9. And the reward... Enjoy the results! With my sewing room (& part of the house & a little bit of the garden) all cleaned up & organized, I'm reminded of how much I love my little attic sewing space, and how much it feeds me. Ready to play there again! So far, the stitches are flowing easily again.....may yours be flowing & feeding you as well.....

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off & back up to my lovely little attic sewing room :)

Do You have Mistake-o-phobia? (Do I?)

2011-07-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of weeks, I started a party dress out of a vintage sari for my favorite young woman (about to turn 21!) The sari fabric kept giving me lots of little surprises....like little holes, ragged edges, thin bits....so I've had to treat it verrrrrry gently. There wasn't enough good, usable fabric for the skirt, so, after much angst & eye-bleeding attempts at color matching, I finally selected a silk .... & proceeded to muck up the cutting. Horribly. Unusably.

I didn't really like that color anyway.

So I got a different color, pre-washed it ... & discovered a non-erasable, non-pressable crease line running down the center. Unusable.

Hmmmm....sure doesn't look like a dress yet, does it?

Set that project aside. (But her birthday is in 2 weeks! I do need to get back to it asap.....)
~~~~~
Start working on the bias cut ruffle fabric top. Edging the neckline & armscyes? Nightmare stuff! This was also going to be a gift, but, while I think I can salvage it, it will NOT be gift-worthy! That's OK, I kind of like it on me, so it's not a total loss. But I still don't know quite how to salvage it.... so....

Doesn't look too bad, eh?

Yah well, this was before I destroyed the edging with numerous failed attempts.
I'll get there....... Set that project aside.
~~~~~
I finally found the PERFECT pattern for a wild & wonderful striped knit I have - oops, not enough fabric. That's OK, I'll color-block it with some black knit. Oops, still not enough fabric.

It'll look awesome!!! If I ever get over this sew-a-phobia thing...... We'll hold off on that project.
~~~~~
Now I'm working with a fabulous silk charmeuse & yet another Decades of Style pattern (I just canNOT stay away from her designs!) & it's sloooooow sloooooooow going. Thank heavens I whipped up a quick toile on it, because I managed to cut one of the pieces in a completely wrong size (eye-bleeding lines & all, you know.....not MY fault.....[koffkoff]). I think I have a good fit, but there's just a ton of fiddly work involved, & I'm finding that I'm afraid of mucking this one up too, so, how do I react?

YUMMY fabric! Don't muck it up....don't muck it up.....

Leave it on the cutting table, & I don't move it, because you know what happens to those fray prone charmeuse seam edges if you look at them wrong....& I forgot to add extra to the SA, so I can't lose a millimeter of fabric! Actually, now that I think of it, I COULDN'T add any extra to the SA's, because I had those edges butted right up next to each other on the cutting table trying to get the pattern to fit on to my fabric .... once again, not QUITE enough fabric! I swear to you right here, right now, that I am OVER these 2 yard cuts....it's too much fabric for one simple top, & not enough fabric for pretty much anything else)
~~~~~
Since I seem to have a fear of actually sewing anything, I'm (finally!!!) getting Queenie, my vintage dress form, stuffed with the Fabulous Fit pads. Does it look like me yet?

Uhhhh.......no.

Just WHEN, in the process of adjusting things, did I get THAT lopsided???

~~~~~
ETA: Two hours after publishing this post, & I realize that it hasn't shown up on anyone's blogroll. Apparently not only is my sewing affected, but also my blogging! Ghosties wreaking havoc? Maybe I should just go pull weeds......
ETA#2 - turns out it was not just my post; it appears that blogspot has been publishing posts at random, willy-nilly....posts I read in Reader yesterday are only just now showing up on my blogroll. Is Mercury retrograde? (make note to check)
Also, lest people think I'm being all whiney & stuff.....once you know me better you'll realize that this entire post has a tongue-in-cheek aspect to it. I may whine, but there's always a touch of humour that goes along with it....at least in my mind & heart....I know that doesn't always translate to the written word.

I do try to not take ANYthing too terribly seriously. AKA Don't sweat the small stuff....& it's ALL small stuff ;-)

~~~~~
When everything seems to be going wrong, what do you do? Walk away for awhile & wait for the stars to re-align? Just stick with your projects do the best you can? Pick up something super-simple that can't possibly go wrong (famous last words, eh?) What are your secrets?

Oh! On the good news front (I do always like to leave on a high note...) Colette, my latest Featherweight, just LOVES sewing on silk charmeuse with silk thread. NONE of my other most-used machines do well with super-fine silk thread, but she is just thriving with it. This delights me :)

A Pintucked Sorbetto and the Absent Summer

2011-07-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

With the promise of an actual summer, and in a joyous fit of optimism, I made 4 sleeveless tops in the last few weeks.....I mean, I do live in 'sunny' California, but still....given last summer's weather (cold & windy), & what appears, so far, to be a repeat of last summer, what was I thinking???

I could move inland, or south, or even back to Hawaii, where the weather is always perfect. Of course, I'd ~~have~~ get to sew a whole new wardrobe......

But I digress. Here's my third Sorbetto, (Get your Free Colette Sorbetto download here!) and the lessons learned:

Sticking with my unwritten plan of learning something new with each new project, I decided to do some pintucking on this top. After I'd cut it out. (This would be lesson #1 - pintuck before cutting). While waiting for the pintuck feet to arrive, I tried to figure out how to get everything to fit while pintucking post-cutting, & I ended up putting this project (along with 3 others) in the "Wait & Let It Stew Awhile" area. (I've been doing a goodly amount of sewing, but the production level....not so goodly....)

Finally I decided to go ahead & sew the seam that creates the pleat in front, and then simply pintuck through the two layers of the pleat.....no measurement necessary! And it worked. So far, so good....

This pic shows the top of the pleat folded back, showing the flip side of the pintucks.
I used a perle cotton in the bobbin for the tuck filler.

I decided to use a variation of Melissa at Fehr Trade's bias edging method.

I cut my self bias strips, folded them in half & pressed, then placed a clear ruler
over the strip, lined up the folded edge, and made a fresh cut on the raw edge, so that
the whole strip was an even width. (Yay! Did this one right!)

Bias strip pinned in place, on the Wrong Side of fabric.
(to be flipped over, with the edging showing on the Right Side.)
This is actually where I made Mistake #2. or maybe #3. could be #4...... I should have
stretched the bias strip just a bit....I didn't. I just pinned & sewed.

Bias strip sewn on, raw edges pinked.

Bias strip folded over to RS, pressed and pinned.

Top Stitched. Not too bad....could be better, but I am improving!

I just loved these vintage buttons from my stash on this fabric!
I only had two. Two is a good number :)

Just for fun: One more lesson.
Do NOT attempt a self-portrait-in-the-mirror when the mirror is smeary!
(I really had no idea it was this bad! It's sort of like those little threads that don't show up until you take the picture...which, I notice now, are present in this top....)

The fit is OK, but not great...see Lessons Learned #2.

The Lessons Learned:

1. If you're going to do some sort of embellishing that changes the size of the fabric, do it BEFORE you cut it.
2. A not-so-drapey cotton is going to behave differently than a soft, drapey silk. Just because you have your pattern sized right for one fabric, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't check your fit along the way when sewing it again. ESPECIALLY when using an entirely different fabric. *sigh*
3. I keep ending up with bias edges that are a little wave-y, or gape-y. One of these days I'll remember to give the strip a little nudge of a tug as I'm sewing it. *sigh...again*
4. Use glass cleaner occasionally. Your photography just might improve.
5. If you're going to sew for tropical weather, you might as well plan a vacation to the tropics, so that you can wear what you've sewn. At least for a week or two.

Anyone (in the tropics) want to do a house exchange? Must love cats.

Life is Too Short for ____________ AKA: Lessons I (hope I've) Learned!

2011-07-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

1. Irons that spit (vow: I will never buy another Rowenta!)

2. Cheap Fabric (I'm not talking about the nice stuff at bargain prices here, although....beware of #3....

3. Fabric that you don't love, but couldn't pass up the bargain. (My nemesis here = garage sales - how much muslin fabric can you stash, anyway???)

4. Books that have one piece of valuable info, but now you need another bookshelf to house them all (this is what libraries are for!)

5. Sewing Machines that feed a growing case of SMAD* (Reminder: Sewing Machines are large. Buttons are small. Collect buttons instead. Or thimbles. Thimbles are cute.) p.s. ignore the SM group shot in my previous post. Do as I say, not as I do....Besides which, Featherweights are small.....

6. Another Sewing Machine Cabinet. See #5. And #3. (Note: I don't CARE that Singer #42 is the most gorgeous SM cab ever made....you only need ONE. Not three.) :(

7. Late-night, tired sewing. See late night post

8. Running back to the store to get the right color thread. Having obscene amounts of thread is a good thing. Collect thread, not sewing machines.

9. Ruining a nice project with sloppy technique. Just practice the technique first! The time spent practicing is time, money, and sanity saved with a project you'll be happy with!

10. Living too safe a life. Interpret this in any way that fits :)

I blame it all on the Spitting Rowenta.....

Examples of #5, #6, and #8

#10 :)

More #10

Can't get enough of #10!

*SMAD = Sewing Machine Acquisition Disease/Disorder

What are the "Life is Too Short" lessons you've learned? (or are learning.....or think that maybe someday you would like to learn.....)