Monday Morning Quarterback: Reunited!

Reunited and it feels so good...

--Peaches and Herb

Yes, my sewing machine has returned from the tune-up at Sears! And I'm so happy to have it back!

After two weeks of no sewing I was eager for some instant gratification, so I started with this skirt for my youngest niece:

The fabric is brown corduroy with pink dots. There is an elastic waistband in the back. It came together in 3 hours from cutting to hemming. It's a very simple pattern - only 4 pieces. I may add a pink flower or bow, but other than that, it's done! :)

My Sunday afternoon sewing lessons with Ana and Juana were disrupted by the holidays, but we finally got together yesterday. Juana finished up her Patrones skirt. (It's not pressed yet.)

That was our first experience sewing from a foreign language pattern magazine and it was interesting, to say the least... While Juana, of course, speaks Spanish fluently, she doesn't speak "sewing" yet, so she wasn't as much help as I had hoped in making sense of the instructions.

Also, we made some changes. We had to line the fabric, so we ended up sewing the fabric and the lining right sides together and then turning it, so that she didn't use any of the facing pieces. I mostly just intently stared back and forth between the fabric pieces and the model photo and took my best guess as to how to get from A to (somewhere in the neighborhood of) B. ;)

Ana whipped out two aprons (I didn't bother photographing them because they were black) in one afternoon - her second "commission"! Word is getting out among friends and acquaintances that she sews. Her first commission was to hem half a dozen pairs of store-bought sweat pants. After these aprons, a friend has asked her to make a skirt! :)

While I was sewing-machine-less, I spent some time working on my loom. This first "piece" is just a sampler, where I experiment with different patterns. It's so cool - there is this "language" that is like binary (heddle condition: thread in or thread out; pedal position: up or down) and by different combinations of these two variables, you can make the most beautiful patterns!

Life is pretty hectic right now - business trips 3 weeks in a row (this is week 2) - I can't wait until things settle back down to normal. I'm looking forward to the Sewing and Quilt Expo in Tampa, Florida in March. I think that 5 of us will go - me, Ana, Juana, Susan and Christine. Anyone else going?