Bullet Journal - One month in

OK, it hasn't been a full month, but it is the start of a new month.  So far, I am loving the bullet journal.  I thought I would recap what I love about it and how it is working for me.

Here is my last post on how to set up the bullet journal.

You can also see the "official video and info" at bulletjournal.com


Pros:

• I'm loving that this is an All-In-One place for everything
• The portable size - It's big enough to write and draw and keep track of everything, but small enough and light enough to fit in my purse
• I'm finding it very helpful using the bullet journal symbols and system.  It is really helping me keep track of what I have accomplished and what I still need to do.  I'm finding that I'm not "forgetting" about things I need to do.
• I didn't think I would like having all the dates in list form, but I really do like it.  I color in the weekends so that I can easily see a week at a glance.  I use the calendar pages for future months, but this works for me as I am in the current month

Lists!  I keep all kinds of random lists, but I have started keeping a master list of my patterns from independent pattern companies.  I put a dot next to the ones I have actually made.  This is helping me see that I need to make up more of these patterns!!

I have a "diary" of sorts - at least a record to look back and see what I did when (The old noggin doesn't keep that data anymore!

Doodles!  I have a place to keep my doodling.  Some are good, some are not, who cares?  It gives me pleasure to look at something creative.

• Simplicity.  The journal can be as utilitarian or creative as you like.
• Book mark!  OK, it didn't come with a book mark, but it does come with a ribbon to hold your place.  That wasn't working well enough for me, so I added a book mark with a little washi tape.  I like how it sticks out and keeps my place, but now it won't get lost because it is taped in.

Cons:  well, there aren't any really, except for the fact that now I have a new Washi tape habit LOL!

Finally I think I have found a system that is really working for me.  It is not so regimented that I cannot stick with it, but it is structured enough that it helps me stay organized.  I think I'll be loving this for a while!

My favorite Morning place

Even though I stayed up late last night, I still woke up early.  I love to get up before everyone else (OK, that's just one other person right now,) and I love the quiet of the morning.  We are so blessed to have this lovely spot to sit and watch the river.  It's really getting low and I'm afraid of what it will look like at the end of summer.  It is usually not this low until late September, but we just haven't had enough rain or snowfall in the mountains.
You can't really tell from the pictures, but that is the river running through the trees down there.  There are LOTS of boulders, so the water makes a beautiful sound - like white water rapids!




Right now I can hear that donkey across the river.  Amazing how far sound can travel in a canyon.  This is the perfect spot to do my bible study, journaling, and check up on the email or blog a bit.

This week I got a couple of patterns from Cutting Line Designs that I am anxious to try when we get back from vacation.  I never used to like these type of styles, but lately I have really been intrigued by her designs.  Maybe living in the country is winning me over to a more relaxed look and lifestyle!

Making Dresses

Andy and I are going on a cruise soon, and I need some dresses!  I went shopping for a dress and tried on many.  That whole incident was somewhat of a fiasco, and I left the boutique thinking,  "I could have a dress already cut out and ready to go from the time I spent here."  So, I left there and went to the fabric store.  Of course, I can never get out of the fabric store quickly - but still...






I found a great rayon jersey and knew I had plenty of patterns.  I also bought a pretty poly satin/ silky, but since we're leaving in just a few days, I figured I better stick with the knit!

I have this pattern, McCalls 6752, and thought it would make a great maxi.  Well, I got out the pattern pieces and got to work on the bodice, knowing that I would need a FBA.  After I did all the alterations to the pattern and started to lay it  out, I realized that the sheet with the skirt front and back were missing!  Now what?  Well, I figured I could certainly find another skirt pattern to use.  I have made Christine Johnson's Basewear 2 skirt before, so I pulled that out.  I had exactly enough fabric (2 yards) to make the dress long!



The dress is super easy - just a front, back and the skirt (the CJ skirt is the same piece for front and back, and it's a full pattern (not "place on fold") so you only have to cut it once!  Everything went together pretty quickly, and then I tried it on.  Remember that FBA I told you about?  Well, THAT was a big mistake.  I think Dolly Parton could have fit the bodice of this dress!  I ended up taking the dress apart at the shoulder and removing an inch and a half all the way across, and then I angled down another half inch to the front edge.  The bodice fits much better now, but next time I will also need to adjust the back so that the shoulder seams are not so far forward.
I do not have pictures yet, but when I tried it on last night (before fixing the shoulders) I realized that I either need to lose some serious weight quickly, or I need to get some super powerful spanx!  This dress is CLINGY.  Thank goodness it is black!!

I am still waiting to hem the dress because I am going out on Monday to find some strappy sandals to wear with it and the other dress(es) I plan to take.

My original plan was to finish this vogue dress.  I started making it for an event last September.  When I realized I was not going to finish it in time for the event, I quit working on it.  Then I lost interest.  It has been adorning my dressform for the last 10 months!  Of course, when I went to work on it, I could not find the lining.  I knew I had cut one out, but did not know where it was.  When I got up today, I found it right away!  So, as soon as I finished the chain-link dress, I pulled out that lining to see what I had done.  I was so excited to see that I had already sewn together the front of it, which was the most difficult part.  Today I almost finished the dress.  I just have to figure out how I'm going to do the vent and vent lining.  Hope to post pictures tomorrow night.

OH!  And DH got a new suit (he's been needing one!) to wear on our anniversary on the cruise.  There is just something about a man in a black suit, isn't there?

Craig's Blouse finished!

I finally finished the blouse.  I had some trouble with the vents.  After following the directions, my vents did not look right.  I have made vents before, but it has been years.  I wasn't sure what I needed to do to fix these, but after help from fellow sewists at Artisan's square, I knew what to do.  I ended up ripping out the top stitching, taking some of the sleeve out of the cuff, and then redoing the vent facing.  I'm much happier now!   Gotta love the internet sewing community!!   The picture on the right is how they looked before I fixed the.

 I've been working all week at school, so I've only been getting to my blouse a few minutes here and there.

Things I love about this blouse

• The fabric!  I used a rayon challis, and it feels great.  I love the way it drapes too.
• The fit.  It's hard to tell in the pictures, but it fits really well through the shoulders and back.  Also, there is no gaping at the neck in the back or front.  I cut a 2 in the shoulders and sleeves, and did a pivot and slide to the size 3 at the underarm.  I love that Silhouette patterns has different cup sizes.  I can make the 2/3 D and not have to do any FBA
• The French cuffs - sort of.  I love the way they look, but they are cumbersome to open and close. 
• I love the way Peggy does the facings (and cuffs.)  You create the facing and then slide the bodice into it and top stitch. (see picture on the left)

Things I don't love and will change next time:

• The cuffs.  Although I like the look, I will make regular cuffs next time
• The gathers in the front.  They hit right below the bust, which is not flattering.  I tried to be careful and make sure they were even, but it is just not flattering.  Next time I will either place the gathers at the bust or at the waist.
• The vent.  Next time I will fold the vent facing/binding in half lengthwise before I sew it on.

I really do like this blouse and will definitely make it again!

Craig's Blouse progress

I didn't have a lot of time to sew yesterday, but I did get "Session One"  finished.

I ended up trimming all of my pieces against the pattern because of the challis fabric.  On some patterns it wouldn't really matter that much, but since this is more fitted, it will need to be closer to the mark.  Hoping to make good progress today.

Next up - Leopard!

I went into JoAnns earlier this week to look for some linen and I ran across this leopard print rayon challis.  I just recently received the "Craig's Blouse" from Silhouette patterns and think this will be a perfect pairing.

However, Rayon challis is NOT my favorite fabric to work with.  It doesn't hold its shape when you're working with it and it moves all over the place.

I prewashed the fabric and ironed it.  I noticed that the selvedge had shrunk or pulled up a little, so I clipped it every couple of inches.  If you don't do this, the fabric does not lay flat and your pattern pieces will be distorted.  I have successfully used starch in the past, but I just wanted to get going on this.

Yesterday I traced out all the pattern pieces on Swedish tracing paper.  I really like this because it is like medium weight non-woven interfacing.  I wish I had space to hang my patterns, but I usually end up folding them back into the envelope, or a bigger envelope.












For this blouse, I cut a 2 in the neck, shoulders and sleeve.  I cut a 3 from the bust down.  I did a pivot adjustment to keep the armhole the same size.  As I was tracing the sleeve, I noticed that it has a weird curve in it.  I don't need the extra fullness here, so I drew a straight line and cut it.  Uh oh - I hope I didn't accidentally trace the 2W!  I better go check that!!

Well, it's all cut out.  The last Silhouettes pattern that I made was a rayon crepe, and I did not use interfacing.  This fabric, however is very unstable.  The picture on the right shows something that typically happens with challis.  When you lay out your cut pieces individually, they are often bigger than the pattern pieces.  This is exactly why I chose to interface the collar, cuffs and front facing of this blouse.  I really love Peggy Sagers's knit interfacing, and it will give just enough stability to these areas.  Whenever I work with a fabric like this, I like to put the pattern pieces back on the fabric pieces and check for accuracy.   

OK, I just checked that pattern piece and it's the right one.  I think it's because of the short and long sleeved versions printed on one.  I have to go to work tomorrow, so I hope I can sew tomorrow night.

Sewing for Laundry

My main goal this summer was to do a lot of sewing.  Well, once again, work is taking over my life even though I'm supposed to be on vacation.  I won't get into it, because I'll be ranting forever!  Let's just say that school's been over for over a week and a half, and today is the first day I've had to do ANY sewing.  Thankfully, I haven't been working every day - hubby and I did take a little time to go shopping for our vacation this summer, and I finally have time to start getting excited about it.  We are going to go on a cruise to Alaska!  Anyway, more about that later.

A good friend of mine has a daughter going to Point Loma this fall.  She asked me to sew a laundry bag for her.  Normally I DO NOT sew for anyone other than family, and rarely for anyone other than myself.  Yeah, I'm selfish that way.  BUT, my friend Betsy is a good friend and she saved my butt one day this week when I was about ready to fall apart.  OK.  I did fall apart.  But she was there in 20 minutes and helped me make it through.  Yay Betsy!!  Also, her daughter is pretty awesome as well.

Well, I've never made a laundry bag, so of course, I had to make a big project out of it.  I'm sure a laundry bag can be made in a lot less than 5 hours, but not in my sewing room ;-)  If I made another one (which I won't) I could probably make it in half that time.  For one thing, I haven't used my embroidery feature in so long, it took a good deal of time just to figure out how to do it.





I'm really glad I decided to the embroidery on the pocket instead of the whole bag.  You know, incase either I or the machine messed up.  Which of course, did happen.  I finally got my embroidery going and it turned out really well.



I'm not sure what the fabric is, but it may be duck or some other home dec type fabric.  It's a little looser weave than duck.  Since the fabric is yellow and the lining is dark green, I didn't like the way the green showed through on the pocket.  Of course, I had already made the pocket by the time I had this realization, so I just ironed on some interfacing to the underside of the embroidery.  It did help, but it might have been better if I would have sewn on some white fabric or muslin underneath.

Why I thought it would be a good idea to line this bag is beyond me, but it's done.  Betsy bought the fabric, so I was thinking that she was buying quilting weight fabric, so I told her to get lining.  She does not sew at all, so we had lots of texts and phone conversations while she was in the fabric store and I was 45 minutes away!














I wanted to make the bottoms a little squared, so I marked off a 4" square in each corner (both sides) and them pulled them out and sewed across to make the box bottom.   Good thing I've made some purses that used this technique before or I probably would not have figured it out!






















Betsy bought this cool webbing for the handles.  I had a hard time deciding where to place the handles, but I think I got it right.  Also, the bag was way to long, so I cut a couple of inches off the top.  I wish I would have put the pocket a few inches lower, but when I originally marked it, I was thinking of using a 6"square to mark off the box corner.  That was too big and made the bag too narrow.  I would have preferred to make a double drawstring, but I did not have enough cording, so I went with single.  It's 45 minutes for me to get to the fabric store now that we've moved to Three Rivers.  That would be 1.5 hours of sewing time, let alone the time I would have wasted in JoAnns!

 I'm happy with how the bag turned out, but I can't help thinking that I could have made a dress (or at least gotten a good start) in that time!  That's OK though, because I really wanted to do this for my friend.  Good thing Nikki's a strong girl - this bag will hold a ton of laundry!!

Getting organized - a new Planner - or "The Green Book"

 I have been using the calendar on my iphone, but ever since Apple changed ical, I haven't been happy with it.  Also, for some reason, I was occasionally putting something on the wrong day by mistake, or missing things because I could not see everything at once without clicking on the days.  Eventually, I started looking at other options.   I am completely amazed at how many posts and Youtube videos there are about setting up a day planner. Well, now I'm adding to it - but mainly because I figured out a good calendar hack that I couldn't find anywhere on the internet.

 I started seeing all of the posts on Filofax.  I love the look of the Filofaxes and started reading about all the pros and cons. I was comparing Day Runner, Day timer, Filofax, Franklin Covey, and every other planner I could find.  I really like the looseleaf format and there are a lot of cute pages you can get on Etsy to add to your planner.   I decided to resurrect my old Daytimer, which is still like new.  Since I already had this planner (with pages that were about 10 years old,)  I bought some new pages and gave it a whirl.  I really liked it, but it's just too big! Mine uses the 8.5 X5.5 pages, or classic size.  It is actually much bigger because of the cover and rings.   I was constantly carrying around this big notebook, and it wouldn't fit in my purse.   I tried to find a smaller planner, but didn't want to spend $80 until I knew it would work for me.  Also, I don't like having blank calendar pages because it seems like a waste of paper!!

Then, I started reading some things about bullet journaling.  This seemed to be a good thing for me, since it is so flexible, and I can keep EVERYTHING in one place!  Some people are using bullet journals plus other notebooks, but for me, the idea is to only have to look in one place for something.  I am definitely on the ADD side, and have tons of notebooks all over the place, and can never remember which one I wrote what in!  The only exception is that I will probably still keep a sewing notebook in my sewing room which has information in it that only applies to things I am doing in the sewing room!  All of my random ideas for what I want to do regarding sewing will go into The Green Book.  Until, of course, it becomes The Purple Book!

OK, for set up.  If you want to know how "official" bullet journaling works, check out this website.  I am pretty much going with that method.  I ordered a beautiful purple Moleskine with squared pages, but did not want to wait to get it.  Also, I wanted to make sure I knew my system before I started using the Moleskine.  (Kind of like waiting to use the "good" fabric!)  I went to Target and found this notebook.  It is exactly the same size as the large Moleskine (5"X8.25") and even has the elastic strap and pocket inside the back.  Unfortunately, it does not come in grid (squared) paper, so I got lined.  It was about $7 or $8 and the Moleskine is $12.88 at Amazon and as much as $18.00 in some stores!  The paper quality seems to be the same, but I haven't written in the Moleskine yet to know for sure.



So, the pages are just slightly smaller than the one I was using before, but since the cover is smaller, it is much smaller overall and fits in my purse.

The first part of my journal is the index.  Since I am not making sections in the journal, the index helps me find stuff.

Next I added some boxes so that I could add in any future dates that I need.  More about this in a bit. * (This is not part of the "official" bullet journal)

Each month you make a month page like this.  On the left are the days of the month and on the right are the tasks for the month.  I colored in the weekends because I need to see the weeks separated.  I didn't think I would like this format, but I actually do.

After this come your daily pages, and random stuff.  So, I have some days that are only a half a page, and some that are multiple pages.

















 In between the days, I have my random notes and lists.  These are the things that I enter into the index.  An example is this Summer Wardrobe page that I jotted down when I was looking at the JJill website.  I have other wardrobe ideas in my journal, so I just added the page number to the index page.

One thing I want to add next month, is an expenditures page right after the monthly task page.  I will tab this and use it to track my spending.  I do have a page where I track online orders.

I like to doodle, color, zentangle, and just decorate things.  I draw and doodle in my journal.  I used to be an avid scrapbooker, so I am using up a lot of my old stickers to decorate my journal pages.  I usually do this when I am watching TV with DH in the evenings.  I keep all of my colored pencils, stickers, pens, etc. in a basket that I use in the evenings.  During the day, I just write with a regular pen.  Sometimes I use pencil, but over time, pencil will fade away, so I try to avoid doing that.






*Now for my calendar hack.  Since I am using just a journal, and not a day planner, there are no calendars in it.  I was finding that I was getting a lot of dates for July and it is only the middle of June.  I was writing them on my calendar page in the beginning of the journal, but there was no way to keep the dates in order.  I decided that I would print and paste some calendar pages in the back of the journal.  I searched the internet and could not find what I was looking for.

Here's what I did.  I use a Mac, but I'm sure you could do something similar for PC.
I went into the ical program and made sure I had all of my appointments added in.  (I had just been doing some planning for work and had added a lot of new dates.)  It is so much easier for me to add things in on the computer than on the phone.  This automatically transfers to my phone, but lately I haven't even been using the calendar on my phone since I can carry my notebook with me now.
Then, I printed the months to the end of the year.  In the print screen I changed the size to 5X7 with no borders, eliminated the mini calendar and the calendar key.  These changes made the squares much larger.

Now I have my future appointments in calendar format in the back and have plenty of room to write additional things in the squares.  I glued the calendars in with sticky dots, so I can remove them if I decide to.  Now that I know how easy it is to print them up, I will probably just print up new ones when this journal is full and I start using "The Purple Book."

  I love my new journal.  I take it with me everywhere I go.  I use it to take notes at church, write lists, keep track of appointments, and any other brain dump that I need! I have only been using this format for about a week, but so far, I like it better than any other system I have used. I will keep you posted.

I think when I start a new journal in 2015, I will put a full year calendar (dates only) inside the front cover, and a 2016 calendar in the back.

Trying something new

Ever since I got the Alabama Studio + Design book, I've been obsessed by every technique (well, almost every) in there.  One thing I especially want to try is stenciling.  A few years ago I stenciled my dining room, entry way, and family room.   I used a variety of different stencil types and really loved it.  I imagine that doing it on fabric will be a lot of trial and error as well.  The difference is that when you mess up on a wall, you can just paint over it and try again.  Fabric is another story.

Well, the Alabama Chanin stencils  are all very cool, but also very expensive!  The great thing is that a lot of those stencils are available as free downloads on her website!  I downloaded the Anna's garden stencil and took it to Kinkos to have it printed since it is quite large.  I could not find stencil film locally on a roll, so I bought a package of 12 X 18 sheets.

I laid the pattern down on my cutting table and taped a stencil sheet over it. I used a Sharpie pen and traced the design.  Since my pattern is bigger than the sheet, I had to alter the design a little to make it fit on the edges.  The other thing is that this is a forgiving pattern, so it doesn't matter if the tracing is exact or not.







I overlapped the next stencil sheet over the first and decided where to split / overlap the designs.  I also had to shorten the design on the opposite edge since it was still larger than my two sheets.

The first obstacle was that it says to cut over a sheet of glass.  Well, I don't have any sheets of glass that I'm willing to give up  for this, but I did find an extra floor tile in the garage.  I think this will work perfectly.     

My original trepidation over cutting this stencil was the idea of using an exacto knife to do this.  I have bad arthritis in my hands and knew that it would not only be painful, but that I also might not be able to do it carefully enough.  When I was in hobby lobby the other day I saw a heat tool for cutting stencils.I decided to give it a shot. 

Day 2

Well, I am getting better with the heat tool, but I am still not happy with the results.  The heat tends to melt the plastic beyond where you want.  The edges are rough and sometimes curl up or warp.  I tried heating it with the hair dryer and put something heavy on it to make it flatter.  This helped.  You can see the difference below where I cut one stencil with the heat tool and started the other with  an exacto knife.  The knife gives a much better, cleaner cut.

cut with xacto knife

cut with heat tool

I've done some looking around on the internet, and I'm thinking it may be due to the template material that I used.  I'm going to try ordering some different types of template film and see if that makes a difference,  It certainly is easier and faster to use the heat tool, but the knife gives a much better result.

It's May - and I almost forgot!

I almost forgot about Me Made May!  I just signed up this morning, but I think I actually have worn something each day that I have made.  Yesterday it was my purple dress and Tunisian shawl.  I usually don't remember much before whenever "yesterday" was!  But I do know I've worn my hand stitched skirt this week and a couple of other things I've made.  I haven't gotten dressed yet today, so I better go find something!
Also, lately I've been intrigued with zentangle.  I'm going to find a way to incorporate a little of this in my sewing!

Sewing by Hand

I have always loved sewing by hand.  When I was younger, I learned to embroider, and I embroidered tea towels, shirts, table runners, and lots of other things.  There's just something nice about making stitches by hand.  As I became more confident with garment construction, I incorporated more and more hand stitching.  I enjoy putting in a hand picked zipper.  Of course, when I was first learning to sew, there weren't all of the tapes and fusibles available today.  Facings were sewn down by hand as were linings, hems, and basting.  My mother hated hand sewing, but I kind of liked it.  She loved to knit but hated sewing the pieces together.  I didn't like to knit (I do now although I'm painfully slow) but I like hand piecing.

A few weeks ago, I ordered a copy of Alabama Chanin's Studio Style + design.

 I had seen several reviews from garments made on Pattern Review, and I thought I'd check it out.  I had known about the Alabama Chanin books for years, but I guess I didn't really understand what they were all about.  Well, now I'm hooked!
I was first inspired by the fitted top, but I'll write more about that later.





I was surfing the internet looking to see what people had done with either the AC patterns or from inspiration from her techniques.  I ran across this post by Rice, and was inspired.  I HAD to make that skirt!  The next day after work, I ran over to the Bargain Basement (or whatever that place is called in Exeter) and bought three size 3XL T shirts for $6.99 each.  I would have gotten 4XL if they would have had it.  The only fabric store around here is JoAnns, and we also have a Hobby Lobby.  Neither one of them carry cotton jersey.  I took those shirts home and threw them in the wash.  Then I traced the skirt pattern out of the book and cut up the black Tshirt.  The pattern just fit on that shirt (I cut a size large according to my measurements.)
These are the materials that I used:

• 3XL cotton T shirt from bargain store
• Alabama Chanin short skirt pattern from Alabama Chanin Studio + Design book
• button hole thread from Wawak.  (I love this thread, but it is very thick and may be slightly waxed.  I had a hard time finding an appropriate needle)
• large eyed embroidery needle (I'm still looking for a better needle choice.  This was the only thing I could get the thread through, but it was also like pushing a nail through the fabric)
• 1" wide fold over elastic in black from JoAnns.
• cotton all purpose thread for basting also from Wawak
• DMC embroidery floss for hem trim (I think I got it at Hobby Lobby or Michaels)
• Pins
• Tailors chalk

After tracing the short skirt pattern from the book, I chalked around it on the fabric and cut it out.  I basted it together and saw that the fit was pretty good, but that I needed to take it in at the waist, which I did.  I probably should have taken it in a little more, but now it sits about an inch below my belly button, which is actually pretty comfortable.  

The skirt is a 4 gore and I stitched them together with a running stitch using buttonhole twist thread.  The stitches are longer than you would use with regular thread.  I pressed them down and then topstitched them using the same type of running stitch.  The AC book calls this an inside felled seam, but this is not what we typically call a felled seam.  Mock-felled is more like it.  BTW, the seams on these patterns are 1/4", so that makes it pretty easy with the hand stitching.

After stitching the skirt together, I realized that I had the wrong side as the right side.  Jersey rolls to the right side.  Oh, well, I was not going to undo all that stitching and do it over.  I decided to make it work.

I sewed fold over elastic at the waist edge.  I had it 1:1 at first, but that was too loose, so I shortened the overall length about 2 inches.  I probably could have gone more than that.  First I basted the elastic on because the pinning left too many gaps.  I used a stretch basting stitch that I made up!

I sewed the elastic on with buttonhole thread using a herringbone stitch (also a stretch stitch)

I tried pinning a couple of different trim styles at the hem but was not happy with them.  I finally decided on just using a flat piece of the fabric (right side facing up!) and using a cretan stitch.  I used embroidery floss (2 strands doubled) for this.  I wanted something right at the edge that would keep the hemline from rolling under.  I also wanted something to give it a little extra weight to hang better.  I thought about beading, but decided to save that for another project.  I wanted to wear the skirt!

I really like the effect of this, especially since I washed it, and it was able to roll and deconstruct a bit.

All in all, I'm really happy with this skirt.  It is super comfortable and cool.  (It's already been in the 90s here!)  The only bad thing about black cotton knit is that it attracts animal hair like a magnet!  I know there will be a lot more of these in my future!