Warning: Pattern Violation!

No, not a sewing pattern violation - a blog pattern violation!

Today I'm supposed to do my "In the Queue Wednesday" post, but I am in the unusual (for me) position of:

a) not having a new, unpublished queue project AND

b) having sewing progress to report midweek!

What are the odds of both happening simultaneously?

Well, pretty good, I suppose - if sewing progress reduces queue membership... ;)

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First, a sewing update: I am almost done with the pink sequined stretch fabric top for my niece. I put this project off a bit, because I was dreading working with the fabric, but it has not been as difficult as I feared. The sequins are securely attached (with glue?) and my floor is neither as glittery nor as crunchy as I expected. ;)

The downside is that the glue is gunking up the needles on my machines. See the accumulation of glue and threads part-way up the needle? I have to periodically clean this off with nail polish remover! Yikes! :(

Other miscellaneous musings on the fabric - it's sheerer than I expected - my niece may need to wear something underneath. I skipped the interfacing - it seemed like it would fight with the stretchy fabric. And it's odd sewing a complete garment without turning on the iron once! ;)

I made one stupid mistake - taking it for granted that the unsequined selvedges down each side of the fabric would be of equal width, I just folded the fabric in half and lined up the pattern pieces so that any unsequined bit ON THE SIDE I COULD SEE would fall into the seam allowance. After cutting out the pieces, I discovered that the selvedge on other side was much wider than the selvedge on the side that I was viewing!

Look how much more of one sleeve is sequin-less than the other sleeve!

Luckily, it's an underarm seam, so this shouldn't show too badly... But you can be sure that next time I'll check BOTH edges of my fabric!

Speaking of sleeves, I did deviate from the instructions here. I was supposed to close-up the side seams, close-up the sleeve arm and close-up the bell-like sleeve flounce and then repeatedly insert columns into round holes. Instead, I attached everything while it was still flat, and did one big, continuous side-to-underarm seam on each side. I figured I could get away with it since the fabric was so stretchy.

Other than tacking down the facings and adding the trim (fake leopard fur!) across the waist band, this is done!

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Next, a Friday Confession update:

I usually catch all of the comments on each of my F.C. posts the following Thursday, but last week six (6) more people responded on the topic of online sewing courses after (to) my Thursday post, so I thought I'd summarize those additional comments:

The crowd was split 50-50, with half (3) having experienced an online class and the other half not.

Of the ones who have done it, we got one thumb way, way up for any class taught by Shannon Gifford and two thumbs down.

One thumb down was based on the pace (waaay too fast for someone with a life!) and the other thumb down was based on the nature of the online experience (no live demonstrations, no instructor watching over your shoulder & correcting you in real time, etc.)

Of the three who haven't tried it yet, two are willing to consider it, and one would prefer to wait for the video / DVD version.

Thanks so much to Carla F, Gwen, Ivalyn, Beth, Donna and Claire for chiming in on the topic of online sewing courses! :)

And a special welcome to Beth who has taken the plunge and started her own blog!