Back in the saddle again

So I haven't sewn in quite a while, aside from the odd hem or patch here and there. I DID sew a dress over the summer, but a) I never finished hemming it, so it's just sitting on the back of my desk chair, making me feel guilty every time I look that direction, and b) the straps are a little thin, so I can't wear it to work unless I add a cardigan on top and I don't have one I feel compliments it appropriately. So, long story is that I'm not done with it.
Today, though, I finished a top that I'm really happy with. I got Simplicity 3506 months ago and immediately sat it on my sewing table. Where it sat. For months. A few months later, I picked a fabric from my stash that looked like it would be drapey enough to suit it but not so much so as to drive me bonkers. (A forest-y green plissé-y type fabric. I am pretty sure its texture is woven in and not pressed. Cotton/rayon feel to it. Kind of heavy, really drapey. I'll post detail photos later.)
So I was pretty much ready to work on the shirt (along with three dresses and a jacket I had also purchased, left on the table and subsequently found suitable fabric for).
And then my serger died. I mean, it still sewed, but the blades were apparently out of alignment so it didn't trim the excess fabric so much as it kind of just chewed it.
And yeah, I know you can sew without a serger. Lots of people do it every day. It's my First World Problem--I know.
But I just prefer it. It's just a cleaner look. It makes me happy.
So anyway, a month in the shop and $108 later, I finally got it back, got it set up and have been plugging away on it in my (ahem) free time.


This top needs a final press and a tank top underneath, but overall I'm really happy with it. I'm thinking I want to make it again in a really fluid knit--seems it would be pretty nice. Will definitely alter the neckline if I do, though. I muslined it, but I didn't realize it would be SO low-cut.
Off to bed now to dream of my next project. Debating between a dress and a jacket. Or maybe finishing the not-finished dress I've already got.
Any opinions?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Love Me Some Ottobre!

So, it's been a while since I've sewn and thusly it's been even longer since I've posted on this blog. I have to admit, this particular post is kind of selfish because I'm hoping (fingers crossed!!!) that I win the drawing at the Ottobre Design blog, but I really do want to share with my sewing friends, as well, the nifty-cool-neato wrap that Ottobre has included in the newest issue.
If you were around in the '80s, you might remember this collection of garment pieces--pants, a shirt, a skirt, and this tube thingy--that were all kind of interchangeable. Really, only the tube was interchangeable, but it gave the outfits so many different options--you could wear it around your waist/hips, you could scrunch it and....
....
Honestly, upon actually thinking about it, I can't really remember any more of the combinations that this outfit getup had. But I know there were more options.
I guess the point is, I never had that collection and I wanted it more than I wanted some Z. Cavaricci jeans (which was a whole heck of a lot). Alas, none of these fancy-pants things were sold at the K-Mart and Goodwill stores we shopped at. None of my older cousins wore them, either, so I couldn't count on them for hand-me-downs. It sucked being a poor kid...
.....
So, now that we all feel awkward, let me just redirect this bird to the point I was trying to make. I happened to be thinking about that garment collection the other day in my 'Man, that was a really cool concept and I wish I could have afforded those (probably not really that expensive, in retrospect, but not super-cheap, either) clothes.
Lo and behold, I saw the newest issue of Ottobre online very soon thereafter--probably the next day--and they had this....tubey thing....that reminded me so much of that outfit I desperately coveted.
So the cool part is, now I'm an adult and I can sew. When I get this pattern (and the other awesome stuff that comes in that magazine--great patterns this time!), I can sew it up, probably to a higher standard of quality than was available in the mid-'80s and certainly for a pretty penny cheaper. I'm pretty giddy with the possibilities.
In case you're wondering which of the nine alternative ways I'm going to try first, I'm favoring numbers two and four, although I really kind of dig number one, as well. I'll probably hack the pattern as well to try to make my dream '80s outfit.
It's going to be a fun sewing month! :)

Sewing Buddy!!!

I started teaching the boy to sew today.

(Yeah, I know. I had to do something to counteract all the broiling testosterone in the WORLD right now! I mean, even the guy at the bookstore, as I was checking out, asked me, pseudo-casually, who I thought would win ‘the game.’ I replied that I didn’t particularly care who won—I was just in it for the commercials [which sucked this year—can I get an amen?!?]. Turns out there’s a thing at the end of the receipt on which you indicate who you think will win. If you are right and you bring your receipt back in next week, you get a discount. I can’t escape the crap!)

Anyway, I decided that at five, Harrison’s old enough to start sewing if he wants to. He’s always watching while I work on things for him and Laura and is always asking if he can help, so I figured now was as good a time to start as any other.

I started by setting my machine up with a medium sized needle and no thread. My Babylock has a speed control on it, so I set it to the lowest speed. I then brought him over to the machine and took the foot off so he could see the feed dogs. I demonstrated that when you press the pedal, the dogs move up and back, feeding the fabric along. I then showed him the different feet I have for my machine and helped him put the one we would be using—the standard zig-zag foot that has notches showing dead center on the needle, as well as 1/8” in either direction.

We then got a sheet of paper—I’ve got a ream of newsprint that I bought years ago when I thought I wanted to do paper piecing because it’s thin and tears away from the fabric easily.  I never did much of the piecing, but I’ve had the paper around all these years; printing on it for general use is pretty awful because of its flimsiness. I drew some straight lines on the page and sat down at the machine, showing him how to line up the middle notch with the drawn line. I sewed a few inches, showing him how to keep the line centered and then I moved out of the way and let him do his thing. I had to get my nursing stool and put under the foot pedal for him—he’s pretty short—but once that adjustment was made, he did great.

After he did four straight lines, I drew some boxes to teach him some pivots. Again, I demonstrated on one corner and then let him take the reins. Again, he picked it up pretty quickly and did a spectacular job. Only when I moved on to curves did he get frustrated—he kept moving off the pencil line and would have to redirect himself.

I think we’re going to hold off on doing much more curving for now, though, and focus on the straight stuff. He’s a big Indiana Jones fan, so I’m thinking we’re going to rig up a messenger-style bag for him to add to his already existing Indy dress-up gear. I’ve already got the fabric picked out and am turning ideas around in my head. He should be able to take a couple of rectangles, fold them right sides together and sew along the sides and then attach them at the top. Throw in a strap and a flap and it will be complete. I think we’ll even do a button on it so he can use my one-step button-holer.

I think he’d also be able to handle some shorts or simple pull-on pants pretty soon, too, as long as I do most of the cutting and pinning. The seams are all straight so he should be able to do it.

Good stuff coming down the pipe! I’m excited to have a new sewing buddy!

Reversible Hoodie

Yet another review, this time for my son’s reversible hoodie. My poor friends who regularly check out my “regular” blog must thing that all I do these days is sew. I’ve been quite busy with sewing lately, though, and it seems that I never get a chance to stop and document stuff. But to that end, I’ve got stuff that I’ve sewn over the past few years that never got uploaded. I’m looking at forking out the $25 for an upgraded membership over at Flickr because my photo bank has run waaaaay over the 200 limit they set for the freebie account. Will have to do that when I get some money, though, so it’ll be a while. In the meantime, I’m hoping to get images and reviews uploaded to Pattern Review before they disappear into the nether regions of Flickr.

It’s Bear-able

As promised, another review, this time for the bear jacket. Now off to enjoy some Lonesome Dove with my honey!

Ta-Da!

Ok, I’m going to cop out and post a link to my review for the New Look dress since I spent so much time typing it over at Pattern Review and I’m too lazy to cut and paste and remove all the tags over here. Which strikes me funny, since I know that anyone reading my regular blog got here by a link, too. So, Harrison and Laura Files readers, sorry about the multiple jumps here, but I’ll throw in a few pictures here to make the extra jumps sting less. :)

I am aware, btw, that her dress is a little big. Her birthday is in about six weeks so I anticipate that it will probably fit just about perfectly at that point. Honestly, though, I’m just so excited that I have it done this early, I wouldn’t care if it were two sizes too big.

I’m also posting pictures of the kids in their respective jackets that I’ve made in the past month or so. I so suck at documenting anything like this. Sigh. I’ll have reviews up for them at PR pretty soon, too, hopefully. Perhaps that’s what my posts will be for the next few nights? Maybe? Unless something cool happens around here, that’s sounding like a pretty good plan. I mean, we’re planning on watching the Space Station fly over us the next few nights, but otherwise it’s a quiet weekend planned at our Nut House.

So, without further ado, the cuteness:

  

 

 

Painless Ruffles

Feeling muchly geniusish tonight. I know I must have read this tip for taming gathers somewhere before—I’m pretty certain it didn’t just appear in my head, but even just remembering it and utilizing it is pretty darned smart.

So the problem with gathering, as anyone who sews can tell you, is that you go to all the trouble to get the gathers all nice and even, spreading them equally around the garment (in this case, a dress!), and when you go to do the actual stitching on them to anchor them in place they wiggle and woggle around on you. You end up with a skirt that is really poofy on one side and somewhat flat on the other.

Kind of takes the fun out of making a big poofy, twirly skirt.

What happens (for me, anyway) is that when you feed the gathers through the sewing machine, the flat part is usually to the bottom with the feed dogs and the bumpy part is against the sewing foot. The foot presses down because that’s what feet do, and it tends to squash the gathers out of its way. At this point, I usually stop, grumble, re-configure the remaining gathering and start sewing again, hoping for the best. Which of course, never occurs.

So I got to thinking tonight while working on the ruffle gathering for the dress I’m making for Laura that I needed some way to make the gathered part as smooth as the ungathered part.

And that’s when inspiration struck.

I began by gathering the tulle for the underskirt in the way I would gather most anything—two lines of stitching, about 1/8th of an inch apart and pulling the threads until it was the right size. I evenly distributed the gathers and pinned them into place on the underskirt along a line I had marked.

 

I next took some tracing paper and cut it into evenish strips of about 13 inches (the width of the paper) by two inches (my cut size). I then centered the paper up over the stitching lines and started pinning it in place. After I got the first strip in place, I lined up my ruler with the stitching line on both sides of the paper and then drew the stitching line onto the strip. Each subsequent strip would be overlapped about an inch or two and I’d line the ruler up with the drawn line to the left and the stitching line to the right.

After the entire row of gathering was papered, I lined up my needle to sew directly on the drawn line.

 

I sewed the drawn line and for good measure, I moved about 1/8 inch toward the edge and sewed a second line.

 

My last step was to carefully remove the strips of paper from the stitching lines. I had used a fairly close stitch length and some pretty flimsy paper, but if either of those factors had been different, I could have easily squirted or blotted a little water along the thread which would have weakened it enough to come off without any ripping problems.  As it was, it came out really nicely and didn’t take too long to remove. My end product was a really nice ruffle that is evenly gathered.

 

Twirl time!

All told, this probably added about 20-30 minutes to the project, but the benefits of doing it add immeasurably to my happiness! I’ll be using this again when I attach the skirt to the bodice and pretty much anywhere else I think of adding ruffles!

Stashin’

Made a little headway on organizing my fabric today. Didn’t actually organize any of the fabric, but got a step closer. When we decorated the office/sewing room this year, we chose the Expedit bookshelves from Ikea for my main storage units. I put my books, projects and fabrics in the available 24 spaces. The problem is that fabric shouldn’t be exposed to light because that has a tendency to fade it. I’ve looked for drawers or doors or anything that I could install on the shelves that would help with hiding the stash, but nothing seemed to fit.

Finally, though, I found the Itso fabric drawers from Target. They are the perfect size—exactly the dimensions I needed. The colors matched the room decor we set up and look really nice. For Christmas, I told Robert that I wanted eight drawers—enough to hold my entire fabric stash and box up some projects. He got them and now I’m in the process of putting my fabric in them.

I spent today working on the sample cards that I intend to keep in a box or perhaps on a flip ring. I made a template in Word that has space for width, length, prewashed status, fabric content, care instructions, where and when purchased and price paid, after discounts if any. Most importantly, I included a spot for box number. I intend to number all eight boxes and as I fill them, I’ll make a card out for each fabric. I will cut out a 3”x3” swatch to glue to the back so I can see what I have at hand easily. At this point, it won’t matter if a fabric is for me, the kids or Robert (my current system—we all have shelves, more or less) because I can just look in the specific box and find what I’m looking for. I also intend to try to keep the stash to just these eight boxes, so I won’t be getting the itch to go out and buy stuff when I don’t have any place for it.

In all, I’m pretty excited about it. I need to get to work measuring and describing the stash I have, but as soon as I’ve got it all labeled and boxed, it will all be smooth sailing. When I get new fabric after I get it organized, it will be a matter of minutes to get them into the system and put away neatly.

Bring on the Snow!

Or, in my case (as I live in East Texas), the slush!

Finally finished Laura’s jacket. I cut it out probably a month or so ago, along with the stuff to make a jacket for Harrison as well. As so often happens, the projects got set aside for life and I have only in the past few weeks or so gotten enough time to get to them. I finished Laura’s completely today, although all I had left was the snaps and the hole through which I bagged the lining. The sleeves threw me for a loop—the directions seemed totally non-intuitive, but I trusted Ottobre to have worked out the details as they so often do and it came out perfectly.

I used a short napped fake fur from Hancock’s and lined it with a nice, cushy baby pink knit. For the bears, I embroidered the facial features instead of using buttons. I figured since she’s still under a year that there was no reason to be tempting fate with chokey things.

I think the only thing I would have changed is to add some bear ears to the hood. At the time I was making that part, the fabric was being kind of fiddley and I just didn’t want to make the effort to add them. As it is, it looks really cute, but ears always make things better. Maybe next year.

I’ll get pictures of the girl in it soon. She wore it out Christmas shopping today and was oooohed and aaaaahed all over the store. More importantly, she kept rubbing it and smiling, so I think it was pretty successful.

Now, on to the boy’s jacket!

Grrrrr…I mean, Brrrrrr!

Working on the girl’s jacket since it’s finally winter here in East TX. It’s going together pretty quickly, considering that I’m working with fake fur. It’s got a really short nap, so it’s not too bad, but I’m definitely going to think twice about using this fabric again. If I didn’t know how adorable she’s going to be in it, I’d have given up hours ago. Nice thing is that it’s entirely lined (bagged!), so I don’t have to worry about finishing the seams. I’m finger pressing them open and running over them at the junctures with seams to keep them open and that’s pretty much doing the trick. I might tack them down in a few places, but overall I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. I’ve got to redo the hood (again), but I think I’m going to work on that tomorrow since it’s nearing midnight and I do actually work for a living. :)

Will hopefully get to the boy’s jacket by the weekend, although I’m not as worried about his just because he’s already got one really good jacket. I am making him a reversible hoodie so it will be warm without being too hot or bulky. It’s cut out, I just need to get it finished up. One project at a time!

Wonder Baby

So, the promised costume details.

I literally whipped this all up in one day, so it’s really a no brainer. I did the tiara first. Wonder Woman’s tiara curves up on top and slightly so on the bottom. (I’m referencing the real Wonder Woman here, not the TV Wonder Woman.)

First step, obviously, is to measure your kid’s head. Laura’s was about 19-1/2 inches, but I figured the wig would take up some room so I went ahead and made my circumference 21 inches. I then drew a rectangle that was 2 inches by 10-1/2 inches. (A quick note here—I’m math-tarded, so if I could figure this out, really—you can too!)

I then measured up from the center one inch and made a mark. I did the same half an inch down. Out came the trusty French curves and I made a nice gradual curve on top and bottom.

I folded my gold lame on the grain, lined up the pattern on the fold and cut out two pieces. Stitch around the edge (I used a 3/8 inch seam, but float your own boat—more or less to taste), leave a hole for turning, and then turn it.

I want to note here that I did not interface this. Actually, let me restate that: I did not interface the final iteration of this. I tried interfacing it with a really stiff interfacing I had hanging around, but had trouble turning the danged thing and ended up throwing that one away. Lame shreds, y’all! I decided against interfacing on the second go-around because it didn’t seem necessary and, quite frankly, I just didn’t want to do it. If I were making this to stand alone, I would definitely stiffen it up, but as it was going to be tacked onto a baby’s wig, I figured no one would care. Turns out, they didn’t. Score one for me. :)

So, anyway. If you’re industrious, slip stitch the hole closed. I’m lazy and knew that this was the only time she would likely be wearing it, so I got some Wonder Tape (appropriate, I think…) and tacked it closed. Seam finished.

Next, I played measured the height of the tiara and figured that I would need about a 1-1/2 to 2 inch star. Okey-dokey. You could totally free hand this. You could also just find some big red star stickers. I, being the anal retentive freak I am (and the broker than broke chicka I am, since I spent so much money on tights and fabric markers) went to my old friend, Photoshop, and used the alignment bars to set up the size I wanted, embiggened the star to the right size (yeah, I know it’s a made up word…whatever…), and printed it out. Tacked it to the scrap of red sweatshirt material I happened to have laying out for another project. Snipped it out. Wonder Taped it in place. Zig zagged it on with a narrow stitch. Poof, done. Fabu.

The wig took about the same amount of time, but only because I had to do the tiara twice. So I guess, real world estimates, it took twice the time of the tiara. Whatever. Artist—not math teacher.

I have lost my pattern, but basically, I took her head measurement (bumping it up, again, to 21 inches), divided by four (since I was going to be making a skull cap type of hat with four pieces) and drew another rectangle, this time five inches (the height I was making the had from crown to edge) by 4-1/4 inches (head circumference divided by four). At the top of the rectangle, I marked out the center (2-1/8 inches) and drew a gentle curve from there down to each side, about an inch or so down. It ended up looking like an upside pointy-ish letter ‘U.’ Stitch two of the pieces together along the crown, and then stitch the other two together. Line up the two stitched together pieces with seams matching and stitch around the now-very-large-curve. This should make you a nice little skull cap.

I sewed mine out of black fleece. It was pretty stretchy, so along the two sides that I had designated the sides of the head, I got a little bit of clear elastic and gathered it a bit. I didn’t want it smooshed up too much, but I did want it to grab a bit.

Then came the fun part: I laid out my black fleece and started cutting out some long swoopy shapes. They were kind of like long, pointy 8s. I kind of just used my rotary cutter and let it do its thing. No one is going to be inspecting this thing up close and personal (and if they do—good grief—it’s cartoon hair! Get over it!), so they don’t have to be perfectly symmetrical or anything. Just long and swooshy.

Once I had about 20 or so hair pieces, I started sewing them to the cap. I started doing this on the machine, but really, it was much easier to just tack in them in place by hand, which I started doing about half way through. The key here in hair placement is that you want to stitch it upside down from where it’s going to be so that the point of the ‘8’ will fold under the hair. I didn’t do that on my first layer of hair and so I had all these little triangles sticking up. I ended up covering them pretty well in the end with subsequent layers, but it was kind of frustrating at first. Whatever. Live and learn.

Which leads me to the other important thing about the wig—start at the bottom of the head and work your way up. I started with the back and sides, got a layer or two in and then went in and tacked the tiara into place. I machine stitched it in center back and hand tacked it (with red) on the star. Then I added more hair, going all the way up to the edge of the tiara to make the waves.

I think, overall, the effect was pretty darned nice, if I do say so.

My last step was to sew a clear elastic chin strap to keep it in place. I totally expected my little fireball to be ripping at the wig, trying desperately to get it off, but she was surprisingly cool about it. She fooled with it at first, but once I showed it to her in the mirror, she laughed and stopped messing with it. I put it on her a few times while sitting around the house so I could take pictures and would take it off when she got frustrated with it. Then, when we went out trick-or-treating, I put it on her and she didn’t mess with it at all.

The tights were super easy, as well. I got some plain white baby tights (do you have any idea how hard it is to find baby tights sans ruffles? That was the hard part!) and put them on her to figure measurements. I used a pencil to mark her knees front and back, as well as the soles of her feet. I pulled them off her, put some cardboard in to give shape and to block paint seepage and started coloring them with a red fabric marker. I left a white stripe down the front and after I colored in the sides and backs, I went around the top about half an inch up from the top with just a thin line, to indicate the white stripe at the top of Wonder Woman’s boots. Super cute, super easy and Laura loved looking at them and playing with them. (Amazingly, she didn’t try to eat them.)

So that’s it. Wonder Baby on the cheap and easy!

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

BTW, if any of this doesn’t make sense and you’re desperate for clearer instructions, leave some comments or email me or something and I’ll be happy to try to work this all out in Photoshop or Paint or something. I’m lazy, though, so I figured I’d go the minimal route tonight… :)

Jacket Progress

Slowly inching along on the kids’ jackets. I’ve got both completely cut out, although I think I’m going to add ears to Laura’s hood. I mean, you can’t very well have a faux fur teddy bear jacket without ears, can you? I’ve got the teddy pockets cut out and the pinks of the pocket ear tape-basted in place. Now I just need to get some time to get the sewing machine and serger cleaned up and threaded so I can get some sample sewing done to figure my zig-zag size for appliquéing the pinks on. No problem, right? Aside from the ear quandary, I think instead of sewing buttons on for eyes, I’m going to satin stitch the them, as well as the mouth. No need to give my little girl who is just getting to the ‘every thing that is in my hands obviously belongs in my mouth’ stage something on which to choke. She’ll provide that kind of fodder for herself.

Harrison keeps telling me he doesn’t want a hood on his jacket, but I know that if I don’t put one, he’ll just turn around and ask why I didn’t put one. So on it shall go. I think, since the jacket is reversible, that I’m going to flip the solid and the print on the hood so that when he’s got the print on the outside of the jacket, it will be on the inside of his hood and vice versa. I think that’s the kind of detail he’ll enjoy. I also think that instead of putting binding on the hood (one of my least favorite things to do, despite my awesome binding attachment), I’m going to make a casing and then just put some elastic in at the edge. I don’t know—I’ll look at it and see what I think.

I’m really excited about these jackets. It’s getting really cool around here lately, so I think the kids will enjoy wearing them. I know I’ll enjoy seeing them in them. :)

Pattern Work

Sat down to my sewing machine tonight for the first time in months. I hate the beginning of the school year because I always end up getting bogged down with tons of crap and I don’t get to sew or do much of anything not work related at all. Very depressing.

So anyway, I’m getting some patterns cut out using Pam Erny’s technique. I’ve got a reversible hoodie for the boy (Ottobre 04/09 #14) in the works made from a Wall*E fleece print we picked up at Hancock's. The girl is also getting a jacket—I’m making her the Teddy Bear jacket from Ottobre 06/08 (#10). I’ve got a short nap fake fur and a pink knit—I think she’ll look adorable (but then, when don’t I think that?). I’m also getting the girl’s Halloween costume rounded out. It’s a surprise, but let’s just suffice it to say it’s got gold lame and is going to be awesome. :)

Maybe I can get some time to actually sew this weekend instead of pretending to do so.

Steppin’ Out With My Baby

Got to wear my new top tonight. Hubby had a business dinner thing we were supposed to go to, so I figured that would be a good time to try it out. I was really happy with it—it fits very comfortably and was neither too hot nor too drafty. I wore the sweater I made from Ottobre 02/06 (#18) with it and it looked, I think, rather nice. I’ve got several skirts with which I can pair them, as well as some slacks, so for now this is one of the most versatile pieces in my wardrobe. :)

I didn’t get around to taking in the under arm of the band, but because the jacket covered it, I didn’t worry about it. I’ll probably try to get it taken care of this weekend, but I think that even if I don’t, it will still be very wearable. I can’t wear sleeveless shirts at work, so I’m always going to be wearing something over it. I think I want to fix it for my own peace of mind, though, so Onward! and Upward! :)

Wooot!

I always feel good when I finish a project, but I feel even better when I finish something that has been languishing on the back burner for some time. That describes #14 from Ottobre 05/07 pretty much perfectly. I bought a bunch of fabrics back in early 2008, among them this lush bamboo rib knit that just longs to be fondled. It’s stretchy as all get out at times, but sooooo soft that it’s worth the extra trouble. At the time I bought it, I knew I was going to make something out of 05/07, but hadn’t decided between shirt or skirt. I finally decided on the Sleeveless Jersey Top because I had bought the last of the bolt of this stuff and there was not going to be enough for a skirt. As it was, there was barely enough for the top. I had enough for all the ‘outside’ parts, but there was nowhere near enough for the facing on the inside of the straps.

So it sat on my cutting table.

And it sat.

And it sat.

And I finally put it away in the cubby I have for all my unfinished projects and there it sat for at least a year. I finally pulled it out the other day and got to looking at it.

For the facing, I ended up using a lavender t-shirt knit. This worked for several reasons. First of all, it was in  my stash and so I didn’t have to go spend money on it. Seems like that wouldn’t be that big a deal, but we’ve had lean pick’ns lately, so every little bit helps. Secondly, it was a bit sturdier knit than the bamboo had been, so I think it’s going to help hold up the integrity of the shape, while the ultra drapy, ultra soft bamboo can do its magic elsewhere in the garment.

I’m really happy with the shirt, overall. I added some beading to the yoke band to make it more interesting. It adds just enough sparkle to make me happy while not being so obnoxious that I would never wear it. I can see this under the blazer and the sweaters I sewed a while back. It doesn’t look bad without a topper, but I will have to wear something over it at school—the no-tank-top rule in our dress code and all.

I might end up taking the stitching out of the bottom three inches or so of each arm band so that I can sew a little triangle out of them and then restitching the bands. It gapes a little bit and I’m forever pulling at it, which is not an attractive look. I’m not sure if it happened that way because of the fabric being so droopy, or if it’s my sloppy pattern and fabric cutting from that era—I’ve gotten much neater about both—but I’m pretty sure it’s not the pattern itself.

That aside, the fit and the drape of it all is really nice. Robert, upon seeing me in it, said “That makes you look really skinny!” which is the aim of every garment I sew or buy. Some hit the mark closer than others, but I think this one is going to be a keeper. I’m wearing it to a business function with Robert tomorrow night and I’ll get a picture of it modeled to post soon.

Makin’ Time For Momma

I started working on some pieces for myself last year and, like much that I do for myself, sewing-wise, they never got done. This week, I took matters into my own hands and have been trying to get two of the things done before my high school reunion (15 years!?! When did that happen?!?) and school starting (which is the Monday following the reunion). If I work it right, the outfit I wear to the reunion can be my first day of school outfit, too. :)

I’m currently working on #14 from Ottobre 05/07, the Sleeveless Jersey Top. Now, I know that I recently did my croquis and body analysis that said because of my arms, I shouldn’t be wearing sleeveless. However, as soon as I get done with the sleeveless top, I plan to get out and finish the Tunic Jacket, #15, from the same Ottobre issue. Like the Sleeveless top, I’ve had this outfit cut out and marked, ready to sew for some time. I’m making it from a transparent organza, all blue, brown and black swirls, that will go nicely with the brown bamboo knit that the Sleeveless top is being made from. If I find time (ha!), I’m planning on making the Flared Skirt, #13, from 02/07. I’ve got a nice brown crêpey knit that has some viney stuff embossed on it that I think will go well with it.

The sleeveless top should go all speed ahead from here on out (famous last words?) since I got the beading detailing I wanted to do to it finished. I decided that the band in the front was kind of boring, so I took a few hours and randomly scattered some brown beads on it to make it more interesting. Besides, who doesn’t love a little sparkly? ;) Now to just get the rest of it put together, but really, it looks pretty easy so I just need to sit down and do it.

Cross-Pollination

I spent the better part of my afternoon working on the blog today. Or blogs, I should say. I started up a wing in my blog house several years ago that I had intended on devoting to my sewing obsession. Seemed logical. Fun, even.

Except that life happens.

At the time, Harrison was three and Laura wasn’t even the proverbial gleam in my eye. I was teaching, momming, and wife-ing. Still am, two years later, and then some. I decided, though, that I wanted to go ahead and get this stuff segregated. When I post sewing stuff, I’m never sure if my sewing peeps give a crap about what else is going in my life. Alternatively, I’m sure people who follow my ‘life’ blog (hello? do you exist, outside of my husband?) don’t give a crap about my sewing obsession.

My solution, then, is to post sewing stuff here and non-sewing stuff here.  Things that have relevance to both will be posted on both. I’ve taken the already-posted sewing stuff and posted at Wanna Share A Needle?, with the life stuff clipped out.

(Why do I feel like I’m going through a divorce, all of a sudden? You get the sewing posts every other weekend and I’ll get them for all major holidays…)

I also intend to go back and do pattern reviews at www.PatternReview.com (duh, right?) for all the clothes I’ve sewn in the past two years but never got around to reviewing. In my spare time. (Ha.) The pictures and links to those reviews should eventually show up in the sidebar of Wanna… eventually.

I have a tendency to over-complicate things sometimes, but I really think this is going to work better for me. At least in my head, it will. If you follow me (hello? do you exist?), feel free to follow either or both postings. :)

(Anyone else ever worry about sounding self important…?)

Seeing Myself

I always wonder if the things I make for myself are really as flattering on me as I think hope they are. I have such a distorted view of myself—as I’m sure lots of people have of themselves—and  so it’s hard to know what really looks good. Even in photography, I’m always wary because, well, I don’t know. It just seems that I will like something, it will seem perfect and then I’ll see a picture of it and be embarrassed that I ever thought to put that particular outfit together, much less on myself. Or, conversely (and much less often), I’ll wear something that I’m not thrilled about but that’s clean and/or available and seeing it in pictures, I’ll realize it actually looks pretty good.

I read an article some time ago in Threads magazine about creating your own croquis, or design template. I had sat it aside, thinking I’d get around to it one day, but never really having the time to and finally just forgetting it existed. Recently, I went through a bunch of my old Threads, looking for a different article that I had read and wanted to look at again when I came across this one. (It’s in the June/July 2006 issue, if you’re interested, pp. 51-55.)

In the mean time (meaning sometime in the past three years), I read Donald H. McCunn’s fabulous book How to Make Sewing Patterns, which had lots of great design options peppered throughout. I also, of course, have been subscribing to Ottobre for several years now, as well. So the time seemed ripe for pulling the info from all of these sources, tying it all together with my passably decent proficiency in Photoshop (which I first learned in college, but have tinkered with in the past 10 years or so with the help of my computer genius husband).

I took a digital photo of myself (actually, hubby did that part...) in exercise clothes with tape at bust point, hips and knees and string tied around my waist. I then used Photoshop to draw on an upper layer, giving myself a line drawing from which to work for later use. Using the Singer Sewing Reference Library's The Perfect Fit, I looked at my proportions and made note of what pattern adjustments and styles I should be using and which ones I should avoid.

Colored lines mean the following:
red = body divided into quarters--where the average figure usually fits
black = where my stuff actually fits
blue = midpoint between underarms and hips--where the waist should lie
green = torso shape

I started playing with hemlines and styles to see what works for me. For reference on the styles, I used McCunn's How To Make Sewing Patterns. Once I had played with that, I went to my Ottobre line drawings and started sketching in their styles. 

Incidentally, you are looking at the backside of the pages. As per Nancy Shriber's suggestion, after sketching in the details in pencil, I went over the lines again with a fine tipped marker and then flipped the page over to see it. This way, I wasn't looking at the body lines along with the clothes--much less confusing. Several of the drawings—bottom right hand corner of the second page and the bottom two in the left hand corner of the third page—are Harrison’s offerings. The first one is a “Marrying Dress,” which he seems to think I need despite the fact that Robert and I just had our 15 year anniversary and we have no intentions of needing “marrying clothes'” ever again. The bottom two were Ottobre designs that Harrison decided to pair. He drew all three outfits in pencil and I went over them in marker. I had to fudge the lines a little when I did my part to make the design more legible. :)

I learned several things about myself through this exercise. First, it’s time to get off my bum and get going losing the baby weight! But until that happens, I know that lower hemlines on shirts work for me (I always suspected I was long waisted—my shirts always ride up in the back!), knee level is good for skirts, but in the grand scheme of things, I think I’m more a pants kind of girl. And, much as I always suspected but never really tried (pregnancy aside), empire waists are not a flattering style on me. Period. Surprisingly, the princess seamed thing I tried looked like poo on a stick. I had always been told that princess seams were good for the busty gal, but seeing it in black and white like this, I’m going to have to pass on those patterns from now on. Sigh.

Of course, when he saw the fun I was having with my drawings, he had to have some of his own. I took a picture of him (in shorts!) and used Photoshop to make his line drawing. I didn't bother with the proportions as I did for myself, obviously--he's a kid!--but I did leave the body pretty bare. I knew he'd be drawing pants and I didn't want him to have to worry about seeing his underwear through the pants.
These are his Ben 10 characters. I know next to nothing about the show and, honestly, he doesn't really know much either, but he got a Ben 10 watch the other day and so now he's obsessed with as much about it as he knows and/or understands. :)

The blue one is my favorite—I think his name is Spider Monkey and Harrison says he has four arms. I also like the green guy with the red/orange hair—apparently, he’s some kind of fire sprite? I don’t know—I just thought it was kind of cool. :)

[…]

(Originally posted on Monday, August 3, 2009 at 11:58 PM.)

Dia Del Muerte Purse

Finished my purse today!

In all fairness, I’ve only been working on it in earnest for a day or two, but it’s been on a back burner for months. I bought this cute little purse back in November when I was at a teachers’ convention in San Antonio. It had this Dia Del Muerte print that was really cool and I was super excited about it.

However, it had a few small problems. First of all, it was super tiny—I could barely fit my cell phone and wallet in it, much less any other paraphernalia I might need to carry around (and this was pre-iPhone when I was carrying around a little Samsung slider!). If I wanted to carry my iPod with me, I was out of luck unless I had a pocket in which to stow it.

Secondly (and probably for the better, as it turns out), the zipper on the purse died a few weeks after I bought it (no pun intended). I was much peeved, but I carefully, carefully dissected it, taking it apart stitch by stitch until I had two small panels of the fabric left. These scraps of fabric sat on my inspiration board for months, waiting for me to get to them. I knew I wanted to make another purse from them and I was pretty sure I wanted to use the Dotted Dream pattern from Ottobre’s online pattern selection. The ‘how’ of it all has been percolating in my mind for some time, though, through baby clothes for my daughter, several shirts for my son and a birthday outfit for my best friend’s kid. Finally, though, I was able to get to my sewing and here’s what I came up with.

I ended up using a red baby cord to go along with the skulls. I fussed with the cutting out of the top panel pieces since I wanted them to come to a chevron pattern, but I wanted them to come to a 45 degree angle.

I got these panels sewn together and the side panels sewn on and then I had to interface it.

Because I was using baby cord, I decided to use a sew-in interfacing instead of iron-in, and I think it worked out pretty nicely. I got the stiffest stuff I could find, but it was still flexible enough that when I was turning the lining bag outside in, it fit through fairly easily.

Speaking of the lining bag, I added pockets to it so that I’d have places for my phone, my wallet and a pen or pencil. I think I’m going to make a matching Purseket-type thing for it, as well. I made one several years ago, but I used really ugly fabric for it since I was just figuring out the dimensions of the project. I got really lucky with my pattern since, size-wise, it was pretty perfect, but I think I’m going to make another one using this really stiff interfacing and see how that works.

(Originally posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 at 11:59 PM.)

Hearts‘n’Flowers

I finally finished working on Sarah’s outfit! Yay! I used the Hertta skirt (#19) from Ottobre 01/09 and the free tank top pattern from the Ottobre website. All fabrics came from my local Hancock’s.

Overall, I’m really pleased with how it came out. My serger acted like an absolute brat a few times, but I think that forced me to find some creative solutions I might not have tried else wise. For example, when I couldn’t get the cover stitch function to work, I had to apply the binding with my sewing machine. I got to playing with it and realized that I liked the look of the raw edges, as that tied to the raw edges of the appliqué, thematically.

Speaking of the appliqué, I really, really love the way that came out. I had planned on putting the chipmunk from pattern #20 in the same issue on the shirt and ‘girling it up’ (Sarah’s request—it was to be wearing a dress and shoes). However, time and fabric stash decreed that that was not to be on this go-around. Down the road, maybe this fall, I’ll get around to doing that special order shirt, but for today I decided to go with a flower from the skirt fabric. It spiffed up an otherwise very plain tank top and now the shirt  can be worn with the skirt or it can be worn with some jeans or solid colored shorts that match the colors. Very versatile, I think.

In the future, when I’ve got two weeks to work on something that can go as quickly as this did (actual sewing time was only two days—half of one day was the tank top!), I need to get going much sooner so that if problems do come up I can deal with them in a much more timely manner.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

(Originally posted on Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 11:59 PM.)