I'm still alive

I'm still alive, but unfortunately, not sewing. The only thing I've sewn since Christmas is a cover for my Kindle. I didn't even take a picture of it before I gave it away (since I ended up getting the cover that I ordered originally that was on back order forever.)

Thanks so much to a few of you who have asked if everything is OK. It's good to know that someone notices when you're not around. Everything is fine, just way too busy.
I feel like school is really running over my life this year. I'm not spending tons of extra time there, but more than I want to. Hopefully I'll be in third grade again next year and not have to do everything brand new again.

On the home front, everything is good. God has blessed us this year, as always, and I'm thankful even in some of the "less than desirable" situations that come our way. DH has been working tons of hours, and is also training for more events with Team in Training this year. I'll post a link once I get his website up and running.

I really do want to get some sewing done, and always have great plans, but it seems like the weekends get swept away. Ever since I had knee surgery last summer, I feel like I just am not back to full strength. In fact, In the last 10 years I have had knee surgery on both knees (ALC reconstructions both times), neck surgery, and surgery on both feet. I DO NOT want to have another surgery and I want to get stronger. I finally made the big leap and started going back to the gym. That is one of the things that has been taking up my time in the last few weeks, but is also a good stress buster. I am excited because I am working with a personal trainer once a week, so I'm really planning on seeing some results. I am also going to Pilates 2 times/ week and working out a couple of times on my own. I have been trying to lose 15 pounds since last fall and have only succeeded in losing 5. I am still working on it though.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to Beverly Hills on just an overnight, but I did get to visit 2 fabric stores that I really like. One is International Silks and Woolens, and the other, F&S fabrics. Any of you PRers who went to PR weekend in LA a few years ago, you may remember there were a handful of us that went to F&S with Birgitte that Sunday. I tried to meet up with Birgitta this time, but they are off in NY with their play. (If you have the opportunity to see it, you should. It's well-done. Baby it's You is the name.)

What else is new? Well, I think our dog is retarded. No, I'm not kidding. The poor guy barks at shadows. In the middle of the night. Whenever someone goes to the sink, or any time light goes across the ceiling. Poor Dobby, he leaps to the bed from half way across the room, and about 25% of the time, he misses the bed. LOL.

I do have some big sewing plans though that WILL be executed. I am going to Uganda again this year, but this time in June as opposed to April. We will be getting a couple of women set up in their own sewing business. We will be working with women in the city of Kampala for about a week, and then in the villages of Busanna and Kasana for the second week. I will be giving more information about that as our plans start to unfold. I do know we are planning on leaving June 12.

My sewing room is an absolute disaster. I have burned through the water hose on 2 gravity feed irons in the past year, (actually, I did one and my daughter did the other)so we finally ended up getting Sunbeam or something and it works just fine. I can't seem to find anyone who can fix/replace the water hose. I have bought a little fabric, but not lots since my cabinet is more than full. I better get busy and start sewing something!! Here are some of the fabrics I picked up in LA. These are all rayon crepes.

Endless Combinations - skirt

I am doing the "Endless Combinations" contest at PR. I haven't done a contest in a long time, because I am too competitive (with myself) and tend to put too much pressure on myself. But, this time, I am not going to do that and I am just entering the contest as a motivator to move some fabrics OUT of the fabric closet. For this reason, I am ALSO going to enter the Fabric Stash contest at PR in January. Now, I have no inclination to win that one because I want to take my time to make some nice things and will be doing that simultaneously with the SWAP - which I will write more about later. I will, however, be making everything for the SWAP from my stash. For those of you unfamiliar with the "swap" there is absolutely no swapping going on - it's just an acronym for Sewing With A Plan/Purpose.

Anyway, for the EC, you make one garment, and the second must go with the first. The third, and each subsequent garment must go with a previously made garment, but they do not necessarily have to all go together. I am starting with a plan, but not sure which direction I'll take.

I posted my fabric and patterns in the last post. I have made the skirt, and the pants are finished as well.

The skirt is McCalls 5523. I am really happy with the pattern and am sure i will make it again. I need to take it in just a little bit more at the waist, though.

Next I will make the ivory top. The other day I bought Butterick 5387 and planned on using that. The fabric that I have is a thin silk blend sweater knit from Casual Elegance. But, after reading all of the reviews for this pattern on PR, I've decided against it. I like the line drawing, but am not so sure I am that enamored with any of the finished tops I've seen. Also, everyone has said that the neck treatment is a pain. I will probably try the top in the future, but for now, it is going on the back burner. Instead, I think I will be using the top from the FSG twinset, and just changing the neck a little bit.

Decisions

Well, I've decided on a break-up. A break-up with Burda magazine that is. I have loved my Burda magazines and still do. But, in the last year I have not made a single thing from the 2010 issues. Not only that, I am unhappy with the new printing of the patterns (twice as many pieces on a single sheet) and the price has gone up. I really considered giving it another year, but really, there has not been much in the last year that I want to make. I have about 3 years worth of the magazines, so I have plenty to keep me busy. Besides that, I also have pattern boxes full of Vogue, Simplicity, McCalls, Butterick, New Look, and KwikSew plus numerous independents such as Fashion Sewing Group, La Fred, Pamela's Patterns, Loes Hinse, etc. Do I really need to buy MORE patterns that I have no where to store? I think not. I will miss getting my monthly Burda fix, but I'll get over it.


Next Decision - I've decided to enter two contests. The Endless Combinations on Pattern Review which is currently running, and the SWAP (Sewing with a Plan) on Stitcher's Guild. That one doesn't start until the end of next month. I haven't done any contests for a while, but for me they are good motivators.

So, here is my plan for Endless combinations










First - the herringbone pants. I will be using the Loes Hinse Oxford Pant pattern for these. I saw these pants in her shop and really liked them. I really like this herringbone fabric. I had to buy extra because it was in pieces and there wasn't one piece long enough to make the pants. I will use the extra to make a skirt.

Next, an ivory knit top. I haven't decided which pattern I'll use yet, but it will be simple with long sleeves.


Third item will be a skirt from the herringbone fabric. Again, I don't know which pattern I'll use, because it will depend on how much of the herringbone I have and what shaped pieces are left over from the pants.





Next up will probably be an orange T shirt. I'm planning on using the Marcy Tilton pattern for those. I will actually be making the one that is shown in orange

















After that, I will be making the Garbo jacket from the Green Moss fabric. It is a bulky sweater knit. Loes also had these made up in her shop, although she used the Biarratz pattern, but the tweak made it look just like the Garbo.










The last item I will probably make are the Hepburn pants. I have never made pants like these before, but I'm going to give them a try. One of the views eliminates the paperbag waist, so I'm sure I'll be doing that.

I have other items that also want to make to go with this plan, but I always want to do more than I have time to do. Also, since the SWAP will be coming up soon, I will have to take a little break inbetween the two just to get other non-sewing stuff done!

A couple of new tops

I decided to make this top again. I first made it (with the tie neck) about 3 years ago. It is still the shirt I grab most often on the weekends. The first time I made it in a natural colored linen and it is just so super comfortable that I love it. I decided to try it again. I want to figure out which clothes I gravitate toward most often in my wardrobe and why. Is it the style? The fabric? The color? the fit? I want to figure this out so that the clothes that I make will be things I will wear all the time. This time I made the top in a crinkle rayon. It is a mini navy and white houndstooth, but it's really hard to see that in the picture. I KNOW that I have to wear fabrics that feel good. I have some cute tops that I purchased over the years that I never wear just because I don't like the way the fabric feels. Rayon is one of my favorite fabrics. It is usually soft, drapes well, and breathes. This is the old Textile Studios Marseilles top pattern.

The other top I made this week is a Marcy Tilton pullover. It is Vogue 1085. The fabric is a deliciously soft rayon knit that I bought at Josephine's when we had PR weekend in Portland. I'm really happy with this top. It is interesting that this top has a little weight in the front to pull the neckline down against the body. It really works well.

Marcy Tiltion Pants

About 2 years ago I made these pants and have worn them to death.















I decided to make another pair, but this time the longer version. I also made these out of wool. The last pair were super big in the back, so this time, I took out about 2" from the back side. There is still plenty of room. I like the first pair a little better and that could be due to one of three reasons

1. the first pair was the short version and therefore have a different shape. Showing the ankle is more flattering with this style pant
2. the first pair were fuller in the back, which changed the drape of the pants. Also the first pair was a poly rayon blend, but these are wool and actually have better drape than the first pair.
3. I'm much fatter now!

Well, all of that being said, I really do love my new pants. They are unique and were very fun to sew since they have unusual seaming and details. Not a fast pair of pants because of all of the top stitching, but I was able to put them together in 2 evenings.


Here you can see the pocket detail. The side front pants leg is made in two parts. The front/bottom part folds under to create the pocket facing. The upper/under part makes the back of the pocket.
















Another little detail is the darts at the knee. Just keeps it interesting I think.

Wristers

I've been doing a little sewing this week and will have more on that in a couple of days. In the mean time, school seems to be getting worse and worse every year, but thankfully, I have a great class and love my students. Now, if I could just teach...


But let's not go there!!! While I was in Tennessee, I was wishing I could do some sewing, but I thought it would be fun to do a crochet project. Something I could do and still be around everyone visiting. I decided to make some "wristers" We didn't have internet access at the log cabin, but fortunately, I had my trusty iphone. I went to the Lion Brand site and found a pattern for the kind of arm warmers I was looking for. It didn't take long to make them. ( I also made a scarf, which I'll show later) Anyway I made the "Windy City Wristers" and they were a big hit with DD when I got home, so I made some for her. And one of her friends. And another pair for myself. And another pair for DD! As you can see, these are a big hit with all of us, and it isn't even cold yet! I've been wanting fingerless gloves, because I hate for my hands to be cold, but need to be able to write, type, etc. These are perfect and SO simple to make. You basically crochet a rectangle and then sew up the side leaving a hole for the thumb. How simple is that?

Just in from Tennessee

Just had a great week long visit with my brother and his family in Tennessee. I really wanted/needed to relax, and that is exactly what I did! We did take a little drive over to Lynchburg and toured the Jack Daniel's distillery. I'm not a whiskey drinker, but it was very interesting.

I also visited the local fabric store, Sirs Fabrics. I have heard that people come from other states to visit this store, but if they are, they are going for the home dec. They did have a great selection of home dec fabrics and trims. Rooms and rooms. Fashion fabric? Not so much. What they did have was folded on tables and labeled things like "lining", "wool blends", "dress fabrics" etc. This kind of thing drives me crazy because I want to know what I'm buying. The prices were really cheap, but I didn't see anything I was even interested in. Of course, this may have to do with the fact that my fabric closet is stuffed full and I'm not seeming to find much time for sewing. Usually a week off is filled with sewing, but since I was gone, this did not happen. I did crochet a scarf and pair of "wristers" that I will post later. I had planned on coming home from work tonight and doing some sewing, but ended up making something to eat, cleaning the kitchen and changing the sheets instead. Maybe tomorrow...

no-sewing weekend

I really wanted to get some sewing done this weekend, but I was really just feeling under the weather and actually accomplished just about nothing all weekend. I did take the above picture with my phone Friday evening in my driveway. The sky was beautiful.

I did get as far as cutting a swatch of wool that I bought last year and washing it to check for how much shrinkage. The 4" swatch shrank 1/4 inch, so that would be about 2-1/4" per yard if washed. I don't think I will wash these pants, but They will probably shrink at least 1/2 that amount from steaming. I would like to make these Marcy Tilton pants. I made the shorter version once about 2 years ago and I've worn them so much that they are pilling and looking pretty sad. The other ones are a linen blend, but since I have this wool in my closet, these will be wool!

New Bianca

I made another Bianca top today. This time I added 1/4" to the shoulders, and added about 1/4 " to each side seam at the hip. I made the sleeves and bottom hem all 2" longer. I also used the coverstitch to do the hems to provide more elasticity. This time I traced the longer sleeve which is wider at the elbow, and then cut it off at the desired length. This sleeve is much more comfortable than the previous one.










You can see here that the neckline is just serged and turned under. I did use the coverstitch on the hems though.







Before I cut this out, I decided I would line it up with a Christine Johnson top that fits me well. It is from the basewear 2 pattern. Surprisingly, the shoulder slant is already there and matched perfectly my altered shoulder on this top! No wonder I liked the fit of that one so much. The biggest difference is that the CJ has a higher armscye and at least 2" in on each side at the waist for shaping! This top is pretty straight. Unfortunately, I have gained about 10 pounds since I made the CJ tops, so this is probably a better fit for me right now.

I saw a post on Cidell's blog about her serger being out of commission right now. It got me to thinking about how much I use mine. I think my serger is one of the best sewing investments I have made. I bought it about 20 years ago, and it doesn't have any special feet or even a differential. It just serges. I can use left or right needle or both, and can do a flatlock or rolled hem. That's it. Nothing fancy. But it has definitely been a workhorse and I use it on almost everything I sew.

Bianca top

I've been working on this Bianca top. I love the fabric which is a rayon jersey. I made this without prewashing, allowing for a little shrinking in length. I did prewash a test 4X4 inch square, and it only shrank in length. Let me tell you, it was SO much easier working with this knit without it being prewashed. The edges didn't curl and it had more body, so it was easy to work with.

I was not happy with the neckline on this. You can't really see it in the picture, but I feel like it did not fit right for some reason. It fit better today than it did last night. Must have been the different bra haha! I decided last night that I would cut off the neck and do it over. I wanted to get a picture first so I could ask your opinions on the before and after. since I cut off the already hemmed neckline, this was a total removal of about 3/4 inch. I think I like the way it looks better now, but I've looked at it so much now that I'm not sure if I can tell if there is a difference or not. I'd like to make it again, so I'd like to know what you think about the neckline and which is more flattering. Also, next time I will widen the arm a bit and lengthen it about 2 inches

I feel like a stranger in a foreign land

Today I pulled up my beloved bloglines to catch up my blog reading only to find out that as of October first, there will be no more Bloglines! OMG - my immediate thought was, "how will I access all my favorite blogs?" At one time I had them all listed in my blogroll, but it is so much easier to just click them into bloglines, that I have been keeping track of all of you out there that way. It was simple enough to export all of my blog feeds into an OPML following the instructions on Bloglines, and then I imported them into Google reader. But now I am lost. I no longer see the current pictures without opening the blogs. I can't figure out where I'm going or what I'm doing. OK, I only gave it 5 minutes, but still.
Work has been so crazy that I haven't been keeping up with my blogs the way I like to. Now it's going to take me even longer to figure the whole Google Reader thing.

So what do the rest of you do to keep up with your blog reading. Also, since I have an iphone, is there a good reader out there any of you are using that also has an iphone app?

I Like It, I Like It!

Finished the Garbo tonight. Even though this fabric is really too limp for the jacket, I still like the way it turned out. It doesn't have enough body to completely hide the shoulder pads, but it does hang nicely other than that.











It took forever to straighten the grain on this fabric (a rayon acetate blend) and I finally ended up cutting along a thread crosswise and thread tracing along a thread at the fold line. It was extra work, but I'm really glad I did it. When something as loose as this is off grain, it will really pull and twist.





After altering the paper pattern just to raise the shoulder at the neck point (boy that was a quick and easy alteration - so nice not to fiddle with all the darts and tweaking) I laid out the pattern with weights. I traced around it with a marker and then cut with shears. Since the fabric is such a loose weave, I knew snip marks would not show, so I marked the notches with painters tape. This removed easily and did not leave any marks on the fabric.










Instead of using facings, I just turned under the neckline. First I serged it with 3 threads using the left rather than the right needle. I serged 1/4" clear elastic to the edge which stabilizes the seam. It does not show since the edge is turned under and stitched down.











The buttons took forever! The fabric is too loose to support buttons or button holes, so I covered snaps with silk organza and then sewed the buttons on the outside. The top snap looks best since I used two layers of organza. However, it is also the most difficult to snap, so after doing that one, I decided to use only one layer on the other ones. If I find that the snapping gets easier, then I may go back and cover the others with 2 layers. It just looks better to not have the snap showing through so much. When I looked at the jackets in Loes's shop, she told me that she covered her snaps with chiffon.

I really like how this turned out and I must say that I am happy with the fit. I really could not imagine making this without doing a FBA or at least adding a dart. How simple is this?

In my last post, Linda T asked, "How does a class like this work? Is it a "work though at your own pace?" Let us know how you like it." The online "seminar" is really just a PDF with a lot of instructions. I think there was a lot of good information included. Loes is really big on NOT washing fabric before you sew on it. There are other designers that feel the same way and there has been a lot of discussion on this topic off and on on several of the sewing boards. I haven't taken the leap of faith yet, but I do plan on doing it on the next couple of garments I make and see how I like the results. (This is also discussed in some detail in some of Loes's literature.)

All in all, I'm really happy with this jacket. Also shown in the photo above are the Oxford pants which I made out of some cheap fabric last year. Although I really like the pants, I hate cheap fabric. The pants look good from a distance, but they are already pilling and have snags. Very annoying.