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Congratulations, Summerset! :)
Thank you to all who signed up. I really wish I could have given out gift certificates to everyone! After I win the lottery, for sure... ;)
"Yes, Virginia, there is sewing after the wedding dress."
Thank you to all who signed up. I really wish I could have given out gift certificates to everyone! After I win the lottery, for sure... ;)
But what really blew my mind was the fabric stores! Both the sheer volume of fabric and the whole shopping experience was unlike anything I could have ever imagined. In some of the stores, like Paron Fabrics and Metro Textile, there was a lot of personal attention for each shopper, fabrics were brought out and offered up for consideration, and prices and discounts seemed to be generated on the fly... Not only could you only haggle over the price, but the sales person (or, in the case of Metro Textile, the owner) felt comfortable haggling over just how much you would buy. ;)
The vast expanse of fabric - like that of the Grand Canyon - can't be captured in a single photograph, but here are some paltry attempts via shots from inside Mood:
And of this sheer for Juana:
It was an incredible trip! Next time I need to go back WITHOUT that whole working bit... ;)
Stay tuned, I'll be announcing the winner of my 100th post give-away on Tuesday!
In other words, my sewing life is not well organized. My main accomplishment is that I keep all my sewing stuff in my sewing room. (Warning: some people may find the next sentence distressing.) In addition, I consider "piling everything in the closet and closing the closet door" to be an acceptable cleaning strategy... ;)
I'd like to be able to say that I still know everything I have and where it all is, but I'm afraid of the recoil when the truth snaps from being stretched so far... I suppose I could claim that I enjoy the adventure of browsing through my closet - I never know what will turn up! ;)
So, we've already talked about accounting systems for our sewing, but what about organizational systems? Do you have any special system for organizing and storing your fabrics? Your patterns? Your threads and/or other notions?
Thus, six pairs of FLAP flannel pajama bottoms are now in my queue! Here are the flannels I bought for this project:
I'm not sure exactly when I'll get to them, but don't worry - I will! They are in the queue... ;)
PS - don't forget to sign up for my 100th post give-away!
If you would like to be entered in the drawing for this give-away, just leave your name in a comment on this post. I will randomly select one name next weekend and announce the winner. Good luck!
And thank-you to everyone for keeping me going for 100 posts! I wouldn't still be doing this if I didn't know that people were reading me... :)
The advice that I shouldn't have followed was to make French seams. It's probably just my lack of experience, but once the gussets were attached with French seams, I had a difficult time sewing the side seams. I should have sewn all of the seams normally and then finished them all after the garment was completed.
The advice that I should have paid more attention to had to do with the size of the gussets. Jennifer said that the original pattern called for 10 inch gussets and she made 7 inch gussets to fit her body more closely. She warned that the gussets are the critical sizing element and recommended experimenting with them to find the best size for your body before sewing the garment.
I made 8.5 inch gussets, for the deeply profound reason that this was the size of the piece of fabric that I had leftover after cutting the other rectangles. Turns out that this was possibly not the very best rationale to use... My chemise is a bit tight under my arms - I should have experimented a bit!
As for the gathering, first I tried to gather each rectangle separately, but that didn't work and I had to gather the whole garment as one. I used three rows of buttonhole twist thread (very strong), and (happily!) did not have any thread breakage.
Here is a shot after gathering - I don't know why blogspot keeps flipping this image - it is oriented correctly in my viewer...
Guess what? - I made my own bias binding! (For the first time!) This is 100% thanks to you guys and your advice on one of my previous "Friday Confessions." So, thank you! :)
Here I am modeling the final garment. The neckline is a bit large and the chemise has a tendency to slip down. So far, my husband hasn't complained... ;)
A few miscellaneous details - I kept the length of the robe unchanged (just a small hem), but trimmed eleven inches off each sleeve! Also, I gathered the neckline to about 40 inches, but after I put the binding on and removed the gathering stitches, it "grew" a bit. I guess I should have gathered it more than I wanted, in preparation for this expansion...
All in all, it was a quick, fun and easy project. I may make it once more, to fix up those little imperfections. But it is certainly good enough to wear and it's fun to wear around the house in the evenings! :)
Parting Shot: Sammy and Milly, the "kittens", begin to warm up to each other now that they don't have Jackson to worship and adore...
Kasey, on the other hand, is a dedicated pattern shopper who never misses a sale and will never be caught patternless when inspiration strikes!
Wherever you fit in this continuum, I'm sure that the excitement of a new pattern and the comfort of a TNT pattern is something that we all can relate to!
And to Natalie - yes, I highly recommend a black furry sentinel for every household! ;)
Over time I have modified this pattern repeatedly until I finally got a variation that fits her the way she likes - smaller in the shoulders, wider in the waist and shorter in the (long) sleeves.
My plan is to make this for her Christmas present (a surprise, Resa, if you are reading this!). I'm not sure when I'll get started, but don't worry, I'll get to it. It's in the queue... ;)
So, that's it for this weekend - we'll return to posts with actual sewing content next week!
This means a lot - especially from someone like Summerset, who is one of the most amazing fiber artists and bloggers that I know! :)
However, it is not my favorite gift from Summerset. My favorite is this postcard that she made for me - with design input from her children - to go in my cat-themed sewing room:
Probably no one appreciates hand-made gifts more than those of us who make them ourselves, and this postcard has a place of honor in my sewing room.
2. Sigrid for her blog (here) AND the wonderful site of sewing tutorials that she maintains (here).
3. Suzi for her blog (here) AND the "Big List of Sewing Blogs" that she maintains for all of us (here).
4. Dawn for her blog (here) - if you've ever read this blog, you don't need me to explain why I selected it, and if you haven't read it - you are missing out! Run, don't walk... ;)
5. Meghan for her blog (here) - more inspiring sewing projects (and the fact that she includes photos of her cats doesn't hurt...) ;)
6. Kasey for her blog (here), which I have only recently discovered and am thoroughly enjoying!
For all of the rest of you wonderful bloggers out there - I'm sorry I couldn't pick all 118 of you! But this way it will be more fun to watch the awards travel around our community... ;)
Thanks again, Summerset!
In addition to the standard "Big 4", you'll probably recognize the complete set of Brown Paper patterns, a Hotpattern, a Sense and Sensibility pattern and a bunch of Neue Mode patterns. (I got the Neue Mode patterns when I found them on sale on the Internet for $1 each!)
And this doesn't count my Lutterloh system, which contains (including 3 supplements) a whopping 434 patterns!
Of course, I don't particularly like ALL of those patterns - they come as a set. But there are easily another 30 or 40 patterns in here that I've marked for sewing some day...
So, how about you? Do you have a pattern stash to go with your fabric stash? Are your patterns mostly ones that you have used, or do you have a lot of new ones waiting for the stars (the right fabric) and the moon (some free time) to align? Do you have a favorite brand (or two) that you'll buy regularly, even without a particular plan in mind? Or do you mostly buy only for a specific purpose, fabric and timeline?
Answer: Skid marks before the skunk.
My mother is a professional musician who plays - you guessed it - the viola. (She also plays the violin.) So, when I saw this stringed instrument fabric, I knew it was perfect for her. I got started on her birthday blouse this weekend.
The pattern calls for slip stitching the button band and collar band, so that no stitches show on the outside of the blouse.
Overall, I think it's coming together nicely, and I should finish it easily in time for her birthday, at the end of September. :)
I also spent most of Sunday afternoon with Ana and Juana. Juana had finished the fleece jacket she was making for her son - all by herself! Including the zipper! She did a great job - I was so proud of her!
We ran out to Joann's and she picked out this blouse patten (photograph on your right - with spaghetti straps & two layers) and some fabric for herself. (She picked out another sheer, so it's more french seams for us...)
She'd like to make it as a dress, so we're going to see if we can just lengthen it... I'm not sure if we'll have enough fabric or not. (This idea came up after we got home with the fabric.) The pattern called for 3 yards of 45" and we bought 2.5 yards of 60". So we should (hopefully) have a little bit extra...??
Then I spent time with Ana as she continued to work on her pajamas. Those are going well also. She finished the pants and is making good progress on the robe. She decided to leave off the hood, but wants a collar, so next week we are going to try to draft a collar pattern. I'm going to have to spend some time thinking about this...
It's going to be tough to go back to work for a full week this week, after the holiday last week. Sigh... ;)
What about you? Do you use all of the feet that came with your machine? If you were to advise me to make acquaintances with another foot, which one would be at the top of your list and why?
Thanks so much to Donna, mamafitz, Lindsay T, Summerset, Shannon, Christine, Nancy W., Becky, Claire and Vicki for "talking back" to my Friday Confession last week!
I confessed that I don't keep track of any numbers associated with my sewing - money spent, yards of fabric purchased, yards sewn, or anything.
Seven people responded that they, like me, do not keep track of anything. The general flavor of those comments was that sewing is supposed to be fun, and keeping track of things is not so much fun...
The three who do provided a variety of interesting reasons. Mamafitz has been keeping a photo album of all of her finished projects since 2003 - that sounds like a really nice idea to me! Wouldn't it be fun to look through all your projects for years?
Shannon keeps track of almost everything - partly because it is her personality, but also to help keep her very large stash organized and at her fingertips. She also noted how much fun it is to know that you copied a $1200 designer coat for just $95! ;)
Becky, like Shannon, tries to keep her fabric stash organized. In addition, Becky tracks her finances for income tax purposes.
Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to leave a comment! I love learning more about your sewing lives! :)
PS - Thanks, also, to everyone who left comments on Jackson's passing. Reading your comments helps, and it means a lot to know that there are people who understand and who care...
©2009 After the dress... | by TNB