6Pak

They are doing a winter 6Pac at Stitcher's guild and I think I'm in. I need new clothes because everything is too big on me now. The six pac suggestion is:

1 - winter coat or heavy jacket in a dark neutral
2 - overlayer top, jacket or cardigan in a neutral
3 - overlayer top, jacket or cardigan in a colour
4 - underlayer top in neutral
5 - underlayer top in colour
6 - trousers in neutral
(7) - if you like to live dangerously in winter, or live somewhere not very cold, an optional skirt in neutral

I've already made the pants, so now I'm working on a LH Biarritz jacket. As far as I can tell, this is not much different from the Garbo or Textile Studios Capris jacket. Well, there is an inset collar, which is different. And there are narrow darts in the front, but other than that, not too much different in the overall look. When I was in LH's shop in Carmel last year, she had several of these made up in a beautiful olive-colored knit which I loved. As it turned out, Casual Elegance had this same fabric on their website (She carries most of Loes' fabrics) Of course, I ordered some, and I got the end of the bolt. Well, this fabric is really making me mad! I didn't look at it carefully enough when I received it or I probably would have sent it back! (another reason NOT to let fabric languish in the stash for so long.) It has excessive pilling all over it..

Now Sharon, the owner of CE Fabrics, did tell me that she gave me some extra fabric because my piece had more "slubs" than most. But I don't call this slubbing - it is pilling. I've been picking off these fuzz balls for days. What I'm most worried about, though, is that the fabric will pill like crazy when I wear it. Let me tell you, the fabric at CE is not inexpensive. It's not terribly expensive, but it certainly isn't like buying at Fabric.com, or Fabric mart - so I would expect better quality. I'm hoping that if I ever get rid of all these little fuzzes, that they will stay gone for good!

New Pants - Sally

These are the Sally Pants by Silhouette patterns. I would have NEVER chosen these pants by the envelope. Just look:

After viewing Peggy Sagers webcast on pants fitting, I knew I wanted to try these since they are her basic sloper for all of the pants patterns. I still have some tweaking to do in the back, but overall, these fit well and are comfortable. They are made of a wool blend I got some time ago, so I'm not sure of the fabric content. I did prewash the fabric in the washing machine and throw it in the dryer and it came out fine. I will probably hang them to dry from now on though just incase.

I started off with too big a size, so I've made so many alterations to these I'm not sure what size they really are. I suppose I should put my traced pattern back on the original pattern and compare and adjust. Just for kicks. But not today.

The fly application on this pattern was easy to do and has a nice finish. I like a two piece fly. Even though it takes a little more time, I like the way it turns out. There are no pockets in these pants, but I didn't want any. I don't need to add any fullness to the hip area!

After making these, I'd have to say that the Sally Pant is really a great pants pattern. The fit is good and all of the pattern pieces line up nicely. Peggy Sager is great about helping you with fit questions. I know there are some pattern designers like Nancy Erickson who are now charging quite a bit for this service.

I have several other Silhouette Patterns that I would like to try and am hoping that I can get more sewing done now.

I also like the way the waistband is just assembled, turned under at the seam allowance and top-stitched on to the top of the pants. This works well, looks nice, and saves time.

Scarf blouse update: I am always drawn to Hot Patterns because they have such cute styles. Hwever, I don't think I've made a single one of their patterns that I did not have issues with! The fabric I'm using is a bear, so just to be sure the problems weren't from the fabric, I pulled out the pattern to check. I was having a terrible time trying to get the front dart to line up correctly. Well, after folding the paper pattern, I can see why. It's not laid out right.

So, I had two choices since I'd already cut the fabric. Either 1) lower the bust dart point considerably to make it work (not such a great idea) or 2) make a smaller dart. Since this is a loose fitting pattern, and other's have said it comes out big, I figured making a smaller dart wouldn't be to much of a problem. I re-folded the dart from the point to the bottom line and redrew the top line. This worked much better.

Now the problem is that I have somehow lost one of my front pieces and cannot finish the blouse until I find it!!!

Hot Patterns Scarf- shirt

Today I finished a pair of wool pants (pictures tomorrow I hope) that I've been working on for a while.

Several months ago I fell in love with the Hot Pattern scarf shirt pattern. I bought 2 different fabrics to make it in, but then never made it! In fact, one of the fabrics ended up being something else. Well, I wanted to make a new blouse to go with the pants that I just finished, so I dug in my fabric closet to see if the other fabric I'd bought for the scarf top would work. Yes! It is a polyester chiffon, so it will be tricky to work with. The pattern has a layout that has you use the fabric in one layer. I don't like cutting out like this because not only does it take longer, I don't have a table wide enough to cut out 60" wide fabric in one layer. The fabric was difficult to keep straight, but fortunately the print has lines in it that helped me keep it somewhat on grain! All I got done on that today was cutting, fusing, and hemming the scarf. I'm hoping to put the rest of it together tomorrow.

They're starting the SWAP over at Stitcher's Guild again this year. I like the guidelines this year as the focus seems to be on developing TNT patterns. That's exactly what I need to do more of. So, I may join. Also, 2 garments can be made ahead of time, So I may even include this blouse and pants depending on what my overall plan ends up looking like. I know one thing for sure, I will be using all fabric from my stash. It's pretty bad when you can't even buy new fabric because there is no where to put it!!

OK< it looks like blogger may have changed their posting again. I used to be able to size patterns by grabbing a corner and making them larger or smaller. Now that doesn't work. Anyone else out there using blogger that knows how to fix this?

Black Friday =Sewing Day

Well, I haven't been doing much sewing, and since I didn't have a camera for so long, I haven't made any posts lately.

We've had a new addition to our family, little Emma was born October 19. Since then, we've had a lot of changes at home, but all of them good.

The only sad (sort of ) thing is that I lost my sewing room. THis was my choice, so I'm not complaining. We have an extra bedroom, which I have been using as a sewing room and have loved it. We also have a very small office off of our bedroom that has a twin size bed in it. The problem with that is that you don't want someone else sleeping in your bedroom! So, since Emma's father stays over quite frequently (which we love), I felt sorry for him sleeping on the sofa every night. The sofa is NOT comfortable. So, I decided to give up the sewing room so we could move the bed into that room. My little office will suffice for now, but I won't be able to do any cutting in there, my fabric will still have to be stored in the now "guest room" and I still have a LOT of cleaning to do in the new sewing room.

But not today! I cleaned and cooked for the last 2 days, so today i s sewing day. I am going to the gym in about 1/2 hour, and making ONE stop at Macy's to buy ONE thing, and then I'm home to sew. Hope to have some pics later.

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving.