AliciaJeanae

Dream job

2010-09-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

After a long period of under-employment and struggling, both DH and I have gotten jobs within the past two weeks. And, for both of us, they're those sorts of jobs that we both put as dream jobs as kids but, as adult responsibilities and expectations piled up, we put aside for more practical work. Ironically those same adult responsibilities (mostly in the form of needing food and shelter) unexpectedly threw us each right into our secret dream jobs. How cool is that?

DH will be working as a security guard. In his mind, they're the heros who uncover the huge plot and save the day. He doesn't watch the same shows I do - in mine, they're the red shirts who're the first to go when paranormal activity crops up or the bad guys need to cover their tracks. Oh, well, since the reality is that he'll be guarding the security monitors and occasionally walking in circles around the building, I figure it won't hurt him to let him write his own script. And I'm very excited about the decidedly attractive uniform he'll be wearing. There's just something about a man in uniform! Since he'll also start his work at a church while he's working the security job, he'll actually be multi-classing warrior/cleric which equals a paladin. He's very geekily excited about that.

As for me, I just got a call back today and I'm officially a Disney Cast Member! I'll be working at one of the new, redesigned Disney Stores (not the parks, yet) and have a cast pin and everything. I'm ridiculously excited about this. Right now I'm just seasonal but with a good chance of moving up to part-time. I'm a massive Disney dork so this is just beyond all imagination for me. I'm a cast member. A CAST member! Only Imagineers and artists outrank cast members, in my book. And I'll get to spread the pixie dust on people on a daily basis and help people plan their Disney vacations and just make the whole world a tiny bit more magical. How totally awesome is that?

It's funny because, without this recession and several tough collisions of events, neither of us would have even looked into these jobs - after all, the pay isn't that great and we're both working towards "higher" callings (him, ministry, me, academia) - but because of those frustrations we HAD to look. Nothing else was working out. And ... here we are. In jobs we love with all the excitement of childhood dreams. How cool and unexpected!

It never rains but ...

2010-08-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

it's rather pouring right now. Not literally (though that would be very nice - it's been a long, hot summer) but very much so figuratively. We're in the application process for our very first non-student-housing apartment (eek!), we'll be moving within the fortnight, I'm still slogging through the little doll wardrobe, and I just got a rush order for four cotton robes. Oh, and the semester started. And these classes, while good, are not of the easy variety. It's all stuff I'm very, very thankful for (especially the paying jobs) but, dear heavens, it's a lot at once!

My plans for filling out my own very pitiful wardrobe might have to wait just a bit longer. Of course, since the time I DID have to do it was mostly spent cuddling the fabric and vacilating like mad over what it wanted to be ... I probably wouldn't do anything even if I weren't busy. Naturally. :)

Finished Snorlax (pokemon) dress!

2010-08-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Finished!

It'll get sent off to the birthday girl recipient tomorrow. And I'll be able to focus on my own back-to-school sewing!

It really was a fun project to work on. The base is a simple dress made from dark blue denim weave cotton with just enough lycra to make it comfortable. The cotton was heavy enough to help the body keep it's shape and not deflate. The white is a lighter cotton/lycra blend. The belly shape is formed by gathering the waist and pegging in the hem quite drastically. I had to add a back pleat for walking ease since the pegging allowed for very little movement.

To form the face and tummy I simply cut out two of each piece, sewed the two pieces together, turned them inside out and topstitched them on. So they're really just giant applique pieces. It does make it all a bit heavy but it actually works with the dress to help it all hold it's shape. The arm pockets are made the same way with the sides left open to make them into pockets. I based the shape on my own hand so as to make them really work as pockets. The face and claws are embroidered on just using the zig-zag stitch on my vintage Singer. No fancy machines needed! Well, except for the inside where I serged the raw edges. Or came as close to serging as my serger will go. I SO need to replace that piece of junk. Fortunately all that is hidden inside and I doubt anyone will look too closely at just how bad those stitches are. They'll hold, keep the fabric from unraveling, and stay out of sight and that's all they need to do.

Anyway, there it is, a wild snorlax ready for a new home!

Pokemon Dress - the end stretch

2010-08-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

Just posting some pictures to share the cuteness. The dress still needs a zipper, the lining fully sewn in, and a decent photo shoot. But it was a long, sometimes frustrating two sewing days and seeing things on Elanor always makes it seem worth it. So thought I'd share.

Tiny sewing

2010-08-10T22:57:00.000-07:00

Along with the Pokemon dress (which is still in the same state we last left it) I got hired to make a wardrobe for a collector's Lady Lovely Locks dolls. It was a fun assignment to take as they were some of my favorite dolls as a child and the collector gifted me one as part of the payment. I'm absurdly happy to have my own Maiden FairHair again after many years of being too "old" for those dolls. Growing up is SO overrated.

First order of business was to make up a sloper for her and my standard method of pinfitting one on doesn't work as well when the pins are as long as the doll's arm. So it took some trial and error. I did discover that tracing paper makes excellent doll pattern material. And that it's far easier to plop the pattern down on the fabric and trace around it with a mark-b-gone pen than try to pin and cut. Some things are so different at this tiny scale.

The white dress that I deliberately left wadded in such a way that keeps anyone from really scrutinizing it was my first trial and error. But it showed me I was on the right track in some areas. The green dress was another trial, no error (except for the absurdly voluminous skirt) and I'll be keeping that one for my own girl's wardrobe. The pink dress is one for the customer. I plan on eightiesfying it a bit with a tiny tulle cape and perhaps by gathering up the overskirt tulle with some tiny flowers but I'll admit I rather prefer it as it is.

And here's today's work. The customer asked for three casual outfits and these are two of the dresses. I'll make up little aprons tomorrow so the dolls can be properly dressed for princessy walks in the garden and whatever else little princesses do in their kingdom. The coloring books and cartoons I remember show them being very friendly with woods animals and perhaps even cooking a bit.

Before getting rescued from the problem of the week by a prince who spent most of his time as a dog.

There's probably something deeply freudian there but I'd rather leave my childhood memories unblemished by underlying implications.

Returning to this project, it's been interesting and challenging to work with fabric at this scale and to try and quickly make up various outfits using the sloper I created. It's been a good exercise for drafting, matching fabric to pattern, and thinking about how different elements will work together. Perhaps tomorrow I'll remember to photo document a bit of the process if it might help others who'd like to make their own doll wardrobes. It is fun!

Pokemon Dress - the muslin takes shape

2010-08-03T00:13:00.000-07:00

One client fell in love with this adorable snorlax dress made by Betty Felon

(This, for those who avoided the addiction, is a Snorlax:)

Isn't that just a happy, fun dress?

I was excited to get this assignment because it's just such a great dress that's great for showing off and a fun but not difficult challenge.

I made up the muslin today and am pleased with how it's looking so far. The skirt is a basic pencil widened to allow for the gathering at top and then drastically pegged in by about 5" on each side to form that bubble. To help with the imaging I gave it a face by quickly cutting a piece of paper the correct (more or less) shape and drawing the eyes and mouth on and adding the little ears. On the actual dress the face and tummy will either be pieced or appliqued on (still trying to decide which technique would work best) with a cute embroidered face and little pocket arms. It's been a fun project to watch come together.

Robe done!

2010-07-31T00:32:00.000-07:00

One down! And, wow, I need to retake that in daylight. But, still, done is done! I tried out some slightly new techniques and only had so much trouble with my serger which is a bit of a record for our relationship. The Lady Lovely Locks doll came today so I'll start in on that bit of fun tomorrow morning.

Robe nearly done...

2010-07-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

Sadly lost some time when I sized the pattern UP instead of down. I realized at that point that it was two in the afternoon and I'd only had coffee as nourishment. That really doesn't give the brain enough for that sort of thing. After a lunch break things went far better. This poor room is a total disaster, I've only half unpacked, things are stacked everywhere, and I cannot, for the life of me, find my three clear rulers which is making everything just that much more difficult. The two school rulers I've found aren't really cutting it. Sigh.

If I can make good time tomorrow I might just take another job that's been offered. It would be a fun one - I'll have to share pics if I do try it. And it would be a dress to show off (in a geeky sort of way). Anyway, we'll see.

Sorry, I should be happier with where I am. But, along with the missing rulers and chaotic room my serger continues it's disagreement with me about the definition of "working." Namely, it thinks it shouldn't. The upper looper tension is just not working, it's far too loose even at the highest setting, and that's annoying. I wound up partially disassembling the machine and pulling out that tension bit (all of which was, admittedly, far easier than expected, just three screws and you're there) and discovering that, unlike my sewing machines' various tension assemblies, this one can't be adjusted without more tools and spare bits than I have. Drat. I'll have to break down and either get it to a pro or, preferably, just replace it with one that won't fight me from the very first day and decide in just what way to most cathartically dispose of this one. I LIKE that option!

So on that cheery note, I'll go back to a little more sewing before calling it a night.

From bored to overwhelmed

2010-07-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

So in the last week I've gone from sad and bored and unemployed to overwhelmingly deluged with creative projects. It started with rebooting my poor, neglected Etsy store (Cherry Lime) and deciding to try out the Alchemy section of the site, just for kicks. It's a neat feature where potential clients put forth ideas of what they want and artisans bid to make them. Fun idea. Of course most shoppers think you can make miracles on walmart prices but those ideas are easily overlooked. There are, however, the occasional gems.

My first accepted bid was to make a pattern for a loose, single shoulder summer dress for another seamstress. Fun!

I sketched up some options to see what, exactly she wanted and, in the process, realized I really need to work on my sketching skills. Oh, well, it at least conveyed the IDEA of what I was going for.

My client went with the wider strap, elastic waist, and full skirt. We were off!

I decided to try draping. After all, the Project Runway designers seem to prefer that so it can't be too hard, right? Apparently my mind doesn't work that way. After fiddling for too long with it, I gave up and went back to the way I know works - flat pattern drafting from measurements. I determined how much room I wanted in the bodice, how wide the hem should be, and drew up a tall trapazoid from that. I added a single arm cyc using a mix of a curve of my own body (client and I had very similar measurements) and my already drafted (and 100% mine) jacket pattern. Extend the shoulder seam the correct amount, add a gentle curve to connect inner shoulder to left side seam, check it all by pinning it up on Elanor (my dress form) and the basic pattern was done! All that was left was the addition of seam and hem allowances, the sewing line for the waist elastic, and basic written instructions. The pattern was finished in time and hopefully soon I'll get to see how the client interprets it in fabric form. Can't wait!

I wanted to test it out myself but the style is horrible on me and, frankly, the client wasn't paying nearly enough to do that much work. Fortunately she knew that and chose to accept the risk. And I have a new pattern of my very own!

And that was just the start ...

I'm currently sourcing fabric for a second client to make a custom robe and, at the same time, working with a third client to make ten adorable little outfits for her Lady Lovely Locks dolls. I'm especially excited about that one as those were some of my favorite dolls as a child and I adore making small, beautiful dresses. That will probably be my largest challenge these coming weeks because small clothes are hard (teensy seams!!) but so, so fun. The client is giving me a lot of freedom in the design department so it's almost like doing this for my own enjoyment only I get paid. And I don't get to keep the results - but that's ok. My favorite part is creating, the finished product is just a nice byproduct. I'd actually rather have the check. So what a perfect arrangement!

And, of course, loving the actual INCOME after a summer of fruitless job searching. This so beats sitting behind a desk!

SWAP 2010 progress and plan

2010-03-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Returning to the blogging world. :)

I'm doing the SWAP again this year and, though I haven't made as much progress as I really should have (spending the first month traveling didn't help - or at least that's my excuse). But I have made some!

My colors are browns and peacock blues and a dash of lilac. I should probably have a bit more but just doing brown rather than black as my base was stretching enough. And I apologize for not having a storyboard. My attempts to photograph my fabrics didn't turn out so well (bad winter light! bad, bad!) and at this point I figure it's better to just show the finished items anyway.

I finished skirt #1 a long while ago and I've worn it so much it's already showing it just a bit. Oops. Still, very happy with it. It started life as a very ugly long green skirt with buttons up the front and a gathered back waist band. Not so much my style. I tossed it in with a packet of Rit dye, disassembled it, then used it as my fabric for my favorite (and sadly out of print) skirt pattern, Simplicity 3754. I omitted the pockets as I just didn't have enough fabric and just laid the under pocket piece on top of the main front piece and treated them like one. I did keep one of the patch pockets from the original skirt and sewed it on - I like the reminder of what it once was.

I have a second skirt in progress again using this pattern (what can I say, it's a great one) from a denim remnant I found at Joann's. I'm having some unexpected fitting issues but once those are worked out I'll share it.

Also in progress are a cape, a faux two piece dress, and a knit shirt. I hope to do some serious cutting this evening and get a wool jumper, silk shirt, and rayon shirt all started on. Then there's the light wool fabric Liccarit gave me that so wants to be a boyfriend cardigan-like jacket. I think I might use the Lydia wrap pattern I made up a couple years ago as the base and add some darts for fitting. And change up the collar just a bit. But change it to what? Hm. Must continue pondering.

A Most Amazing Skirt

2009-11-25T15:52:00.000-08:00

Surfacing from my little workshop where this elf is busily making gifts to gaze in amazement at this skirt from the upcoming Alice in Wonderland remake.

Look at that! Rows upon rows of ric rac forming a lace overlay - gorgeous and perfectly insane for a Burton film. I'd love a knee-length version for myself but first I need to figure out if I'd actually wear it. Hm. But it is rather stunning and decidedly unusual. I would like to make a doll version sometime this winter, especially as the standard ric rac Joann's sells is just perfectly scaled for a 18" version of this skirt.

I live!

2009-11-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

Eeps, it's been, what, two months since the last post? That's just sad.

Also sad - despite it being two months, I really don't have a lot to share. I got my sewing area set up in the new house but it's so dark and cold that I don't spend the time in it that I'd like to. Really need to remember to pick up some lights and another extension cord to fix that. It's just for another 6 months so I haven't stressed over it like I would if this were anything more permanent.

Anyway, next post will be SWAP related but wanted to waylay any rumors of my demise or whatnot. And hopefully pictures soon - I like pictures. :)

Can you identify this needlework method?

2009-09-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

So these are a pair of little baby booties made for my mother-in-law's mother by her mother and they're just gorgeous. However I can't figure out just how it was made. It doesn't look quite like either crochet or knitting and it's not macrame. I know that DH's great-grandmother was skilled in embroidery and tatting and DMIL has stories of her knitting things she'd seen without a pattern in the space of a few evenings so that doesn't narrow the options too much. Still, it's gorgeous workmanship and it was a priviledge getting to pour over some of the items she made.

More of her work -

Baby bonnet also made for DH's grandmother - look at how tiny the work is!

The edge of a lingere piece. She made a set of three lingere items all from the same pattern and not a single machine stitch on them. I'll show off the full set in a future post but for now a taste of how she creatively used embroidery as a utility stitch to hold on the lace. Gorgeous, gorgeous work.

New Toy!

2009-08-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

I'm in love with our local Goodwill. I'm both a closet tree-hugger and a poor student so the idea of getting used but still good stuff for great prices with the proceeds going to good use? Score! So we've been doing a lot of our shopping there this past week. Got a desk, chairs, storage stuff, all for a good price. But yesterday was the definate gold mine. Looking around for a chair for my sewing are I noticed a long, slightly beat-up, rather dated box. Looked closer.

A Bond Knitting machine. From the early 90s. With all it's pieces. For $7.99. Gorgeous! Mine!

I brought it home and last night we got it set up on the one table it fits on (the kitchen table - guess we're eating at the coffee table for a while) and tested it out and I'm utterly amazed and overjoyed. It took some annoying-to-knit boucle yarn I had and turned it into a foot of gorgeousness in just half an hour with no problem. All I had to do was get it set up (admittedly rather time consuming and fiddly) and then slide the cartrige back and forth. And that's it! Love!

I need to spend time over at the bond site for project ideas - unfortunately the ones the machine came with are ... dated. To say the least. Lots of amusement value, though! And a fun, fun new toy to enjoy while I'm up here in sweater land. :)

Very vintage doll pattern: or, A Taste of Things To Come

2009-08-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

We've moved in, most boxes are unpacked, and hopefully next weekend I'll finally get a table for my sewing area and be up and running! I even managed to find the only Joann's within an hour's drive without deliberately looking for it - just turned off the highway for a mid-day treat and there it was. And so impressive - all the fabrics I loved from my Dallas Joann's plus many more! And the clearance section! And the yarns! All swathed in wide, clean aisles and nice bright (albit florescent) lights. Happiness!

Anyway, more of all that later. For now, a taste of the long-promised photos of my mother-in-law's grandmother's sewing treasures.

The treasures included a couple embroidery patterns, a small trouseau of entirely hand-sewn lingere, all from the same basic pattern, and, my favorite, a doll dress pattern dating from the early days of patterns.

Unfortunately the best of the pics are still trapped on my home computer which lacks internet access and will have to wait for the weekend to get any. But until then, this is a taste of what I got to see:

This shows the back (sorry, no pic of front at present - coming!!) of the pattern envelope which was, if memory serves, from the early 1920s. It's far smaller than standard pattern envelopes today - maybe 5" in hight and 3" wide? One thing I didn't do was measure it, though I know I have a picture with a penny for comparison. Somewhere. If you look you'll notice how excited McCall's is to offer printed directions. :) And look at all those pattern pieces! The pattern is for what seems to be a very basic little dress and bloomers for an 18" doll - apparently the definition of "basic" has changed over the years. :)

The directions and, I believe, the pattern pieces themselves were printed on one long piece of tissue paper in blue ink. I took a panoramic series of photos to capture every last line but, naturally, in the short bit of time I had to upload to my photo album only a few made it. The rest are waiting patiently and I promise you will get to see them! Click on this photo to get a far larger view and enjoy all the wonderful little details!

Here's part 4 of the directions with the most gorgeous illustrations. And look at the techniques apparently used on a basic doll dress! So amazing.

Like I said, this is just a taste of the treasures I got to see and preserve digitally over the week with the in-laws. And MIL was probably very happy to have someone as excited about all the items as she was. :) I've also been commissioned to make a beautiful day dress for her grandmother's doll, something I'm very much looking forwards to as it's a great chance to really have fun with some vintage styles and nice fabric. I think a trip to Gayfeathers is in order!

How's summer going?

2009-08-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

Busy here! Hopefully in another couple weeks I'll be back in the land of regular internet access and I've been storing up things to share - fabrics acquired, a few gorgeous 1920s patterns MIL has passed down from her grandmother, hand-sewn chemises from the same grandmother, and my attempt at getting by on just 20 or so patterns for a year. And, I'm sure, more but that's what I'm most excited about at the moment. Unfortunately that'll have to wait a tad until said regular internet, computer, and I are all together at the same time. Until then hope that everyone else is having a great, productive, and fun summer!

Break for Vogues

2009-07-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

So packing is ... hectic. And I'm tired of boxes and loads of laundry (thanks to water damage and mold we have to wash EVERYTHING - fortunately the apartment's paying for it but I'm still the one doing it) so I'm taking a dinner break to focus on something rather unexpectedly happy - the Fall Vogues!

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I love the belt on this - the way it's sewn in on the back avoids the bubble butt that volume + belt can give. And while it's still more volume than I can wear without feeling silly or overly fussy it's at least a good take on the volume of the past few years.

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What a gorgeous and smart dress for fall. I love all the seams and the square neckline. So beautiful.

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This is such a fabulous day-to-night outfit. You can't see it in the picture because they picked black (why, when it photographs so badly) but there's a gorgeous bit of seaming details going on between the waist and hips. A great way to use some nice wool.

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More fabulous details - the skirt has a neat gather in the front (here obscured by the jacket) and a nice diagonal asymetrical seam in the back. Very nice, great way to make an extra-special little black skirt. Like the jacket as well but it's really the skirt that wins it for me. I would, however, put in a kick pleat rather than that slit... that always looks like something cheap brands do to save money and time. Not so fab.

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Pleats at the neck, gorgeous. Not sure if I can pull off a fitted knit dress (though it does call for fairly firm knit) as those react badly with my "athletic" thighs. But still, very gorgeous dress.

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Another fabulous little dress. That waist panel looks so flattering and there's lots of seams to let you get the fit just perfect.

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Ok, impractical and totally not me, but I love the high waisted skirt and little capelet jacket. It's such an Adelle Dewit outfit (from Dollhouse - I have a rather pitifully desperate crush on her wardrobe) and I so want to be the sort of person who can pull off such a style.

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Ok, not feeling the jacket but the rest of the wardrobe is lovely. I especially like the dress/faux top and skirt. Very slick and chic. And in a solid color the jacket isn't too bad. Ok, it's kinda nice, with the slim pieces underneath. I could grow to like it. But the skirt and dress are really my favorites. And the skirt and pants both have darts under the waistband which are a big plus for me - so many patterns with waistbands forget that some of us have curvy bums and need all the shaping we can get. I'll probably still have to add to the dart but at least it's there to start with and doesn't have to be drafted in entirely.

Ok, that was a nice break. :) Back to the laundry and boxes and off to pick up box tape!

Fourth of July Skirt

2009-07-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

(btw, those are sitting, not fitting, wrinkles. Just to make myself feel better about showing this picture)

New skirt just in time for the 4th! And yes, you'll notice I do go in for themed dressing. :)

The skirt is from the sadly out of print Simplicity 3754 which is my current favorite skirt pattern. It's also my most-used skirt pattern with three different incarnations hanging in my closet. Love!

The fabric is a medium weight cotton that was originally in Joann's home dec section before getting thrown in the remnant bin. Our Joann's seems to have a new policy on what constitutes remnants because out of nowhere the bins showed up and more often then not you can find up to two yards of very nice fabric for 50% off. And when the remnants themselves go on sale it's just happy times for me. This red cotton came home with four other pieces and I think the bill was less than $5. Serious score there. Two of those pieces are "in process" as I finish little details and such so hopefully they'll make their debut soon.

But back to the skirt, it's my sole "mini" skirt (in quotes because I've found what I consider mini is simply short to most people) and a fun skirt to wear. So bright and happy! My only dislike are those criss-cross belt holders - I put them in correctly so it's not an operator error. I'm thinking that they're just drafted too long, especially since this skirt is the recommended fabric weight so they SHOULD be perfect. Oh well.

Beyond that, we had a lazy Sunday that SHOULD have been spent getting the place ready for our evacuation. Oh, well. We'll work on it tonight and I've got tomorrow morning free so it'll get done. And it was a very enjoyable lazy so the time wasn't wasted. :)

Le Sigh

2009-07-01T15:55:00.001-07:00

Interesting note - if you're feeling annoyed or upset, google image search "face palm." It'll make your day, I promise.

Anyway, got air tests back from our moldy walls and good news is it's not black mold. Bad news is it's just about all it's cousins and friends. So wheels are in motion to get this all cleaned out and up and whatnot. Which would all be SO much easier if we weren't moving in two weeks. Seriously. So on ... monday? ... we're getting moved to a new apartment that's pre-furnished with some basics and all our stuff gets to undergo mold detox. Fun stuff. On the good news it looks like we'll get to forego the military grade move out inspection. I've done two of those in this building already and was NOT looking forwards to a third. So yay on missing that.

On the downside we'll be seperated from all our stuff and be reunited with it box by box just in time to turn around and move it again to our new temporary location. Which we'll be in all of two days before vacation with the in-laws and then, just when all that craziness dies down, move AGAIN to Wisconsin. So, yes, four apartments in two months' time. Not so excited about that.

We asked a lot of questions and detox team #1 will come by tomorrow to figure out just how intensive the cleaning will need to be so we'll have more concrete info tomorrow. Until then it's just a lot of tidying up in prep for detox/move/storage and just one more chapter of craziness in life!

And not surprisingly sewing's a bit on hold. I hope to have a new skirt or two to show off soon, we'll see.

Pattern give-away! (or, Cleaning up in prep for move)

2009-06-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Update:

The patterns all have homes! Thanks!

Work in progress and an interesting meeting

2009-06-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Here's Elanor modeling my drawstring skirt pattern, version 2.0. I'm trying to work up a beginner-friendly pattern that's easy yet flattering and figure if I get a few nice things to wear in the process then, hey, bonus! It's made up from some rather icky linen from Joann's (that I didn't realize wasn't part of the LINEN SALE!! until AFTER it was cut - grr) that I really should have cut out on the bias rather than straight grain since, as is, it's got all the drape of a feed sack. Oh, well, sew and learn. I have a little over a yard left so trying to decide if I want to add deconstructed ruffles for weight or cut another on the bias (need to check if there's room) or something else so at the moment it's unhemmed. But I do like the shape and it is quite comfy so if it's never anything beyond a test and swimsuit coverup then it's done it's job.

In other news, yesterday I was chatting with my parents who are back in the DC metro and about five topics of conversation in dad mentioned that they had an interesting time last weekend. Apparently they went out golfing and just as they were about to hit the greens (or whatever the appropriate term is for getting started) the whole place went into lock down and men in black with little earbuds were everywhere. See where this is going? A few minutes later Obama walked by, gave my dad a wave and hopefully went on to have a lovely, relaxing day golfing. It was another hour until the security perimeter around him allowed my parents to go on with their game but, hey, they got a story out of it. And I got to tease my staunchly republican dad since he keeps having these sorts of random run-ins with democrat presidents. Never republicans. Just democrats. It amuses me. Mom's only comment was that Obama's shorter than she thought. Just another weekend for them... Life in the DC area, how I miss you!

Update on wall and projects

2009-06-22T21:43:00.000-07:00

Some of the damage to our frames. Ick!!

Our apartment became the exhibit of the week today as first six guys from our head of housing to some maintenance guys who (it seems) tagged along to see the Mysterious Bending Wall came by to check it out and then later a few more people from maintenance popped in just to see our little curiousity. In fairness, our light fixture has some rust running from it that looks like dried blood so it is kinda a neat thing to see - bleeding walls! Now just need stuff to start flying around.

Fortunately no holes were opened up today - since all concerned asked just when we're moving out fingers are crossed that they're waiting until then to do the messy stuff. Of course I was kinda looking forwards to the excuse to avoid at least part of the move out inspection - so whether they do or don't punch a hole in the wall we win.

Unfortunately the reason we didn't get a holey wall is because they found MORE water damage in the apartment above us, home of a policeman working night shifts and his 8-month pregnant wife. So while things are quiet down here they lived through an unexpected day of deconstruction. Sorry!!

In the project world it's a small list of UFOs. I apparently haven't fully conquored the fear of buttonholes I built up with my first machine (and fully justified, I assure you) and a top and skirt are both sitting in the pile waiting for those last details. I also started knitting a sweater out of some beautiful yarn that just hasn't found it's purpose yet. It's been the start of three different cardigans, a wrap, and at least one other false start and each time it just wasn't right. This time it seems to be working. It's a veeery basic cowlneck sweater based on a lionbrand crochet pattern. And by "based" I mean I'm using some of the measurements and the overall idea and that's it. Instead of crocheting I'm knitting in rib stitch using fairly large needles (size 13) so it's fast, the fabric is sooo soft, and hopefully it'll fit. If not then, by this point, I'm very good at unraveling projects. :) Once it's done I'll try my hand at writing a pattern - it's about as simple as it gets (which I need, knitting's still new to me, I'm a sewer and crocheter first).

Here's the start - it's larger than it initially looks since the needles are so large. Thus the hand and magazine as size references. And the color's not quite right - it's richer and less sparkly than it looks in the picture. Oh, well. I like it. :)

That's ... not good.

2009-06-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

So we're eating and chatting with friends last night at our place and I notice the one nice picture we have (most are just my own pics printed off at Target and slapped in Ikea frames) has condensation inside the glass. Hm. Go over, pull it off the wall and notice the back cardboard is severely damp. Hm again. Pull the next picture off the wall and ... wow. MOLD on the back. And pull another, more mold, and another ... in all four picture frames with mold on the back and another half dozen that were badly water damaged. What in the world?

Now everyone's gathered around the wall and one notices that when you touch it, it bends in easily. Not normal at all. And it's warm right where all the water damage happened, while the rest of the wall is nice and cool. Hm.

Our building apparently had some "quality" issues when built and water damage has been a bit of a constant for some rooms, but it's always been the windows that were the issue. Not interior walls. And this is definitely interior. But tracing it back, we did notice a few small things right after the big rainstorm a week ago, so it fits. But wow. Our apartment manager and a building guy (not sure official function) came by today after we sent him an email and from how he reacted it seems this is a new problem to add to his already long list of problems with the building's, well, building. Since, you know, storing water in walls isn't really a good idea. At least not this type of storage.

So tomorrow maintenance is coming by and odds are we'll be partially wall-less by the time they're done. Sigh. And we're just a few weeks from moving out, too. Oh, well... life! Guess I should make sure my fabric is nice and stored away from flying whatever that's behind that wall!

Sewing Classes!

2009-06-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

I've just solidified my Summer sewing class schedule so if you are or know of a Dallas-area beginner or advanced beginner looking for lessons, I've gotcha covered. :)

Classes are $125 for all 6 hours of instruction while micro-classes will be $45. Full-time students get a sympathy discount. :) All classes are held at my apartment (low overhead cost!) near Baylor hospital. Precise directions along with class materials list will be sent out after registering for a class as I'm not so keen on posting my home address online for any to see. Just in case.

If you're interested email me at alicia.marshevans AT gmail.com (replacing "at" with "@" - doing it this way snags up the spambots) and I'll get you signed up!

You should have your own machine though I do have a couple class machines if you need one, whether because yours is too heavy to bring in or you want to take this with your child/parent/spouse/roommate/etc and you only have one between your or whatever. Just know that all classes past 101 have homework and you will need a machine for it!

Classes

101- Learning to Love Your Machine
For beginnings. Learn the basics of threading, tension, and sewing through making a number of small projects.

Session 1 - Mondays, 7-8:30pm, June 22-July13th (4 sessions)
Session 2 - Saturday 10am-1pm, June 27, July 11 (2 sessions)

201 - First Pattern (Apron)
Learn to read a commercial pattern while making a beautiful and practical apron. Cutting and marking will be covered.

Session 1 - Tuesdays/Thursdays, 7pm-8:30, June 30, July 2, 7, and 9th.
Session 2 - Saturdays, 2-5pm, June 27 and July 11

202 - Perfect Fit Pencil Skirt
Learn to fit and sew a pencil skirt that's perfect for your figure. Darts, zippers, facings, and basic drafting will be covered.

Session 1 - Tuesdays/Thursdays, 1pm-2:30pm, June 30, July 2, 7, and 9th.
Session 2 - Wednesday/Fridays 7pm-8:30pm, June 24, 26, July 1, 3rd.

-----
In addition I have some elective classes and micro classes (one session classes) that I'd like to do, if there's interest. Please note if one of these sounds good and if there's a general time that works best for you!

Possible "elective" classes (all need 101 experience - 102 very helpful but not necessary)

Full Classes (meet 4 times over two or four weeks)
- Sewing a maternity skirt (emphasis on making one pattern up in different ways)/maternity wardrobe (top and skirt)
- Sewing a camp shirt (buttonholes, collars)
- Little Black Dress

Microclasses (Meet just 1 time)
- Next Step Techniques - setting in sleeves, darts, zippers, and different hems
- Mending
- Fabrics - different properties, choosing the right one for a project, intro to knits, etc.
- Sew a Knit Top - it's really easier than you think!

Two new garments from May

2009-06-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

The end of May I participated in the Wardrobe in a Week contest and, while I didn't finish all I'd planned, I did get two garments out of it and that's two more than I had before!

Here's the outfit together...

The dress is from McCall'ss 5576 and this is my second time making it. The first time I went by my measurements and sewed a 14 - yeah, shouldn't have. The only fitted part is the shoulders/neckline and I'm really a size 8/10 at that point. So for the first version the neckline was huge. I pulled it in through the back (the only place I really could) and while it now looks alright it cuts into my arms if I've got less than perfect posture. So for this version I went with a size ten grading to 12 at the hips and it's MUCH better. Moral - flat measure, pinfit, or make a muslin, just check before cutting!

The fabric is pure linen with border embroidery bought at my wonderful little local Joann's.

I made a few alterations for this version - first I changed the cutting layout so I could take advantage of the fabric's border print. Second, instead of gathering the neckline I took advantage of the fabric's linen crispness and sewed little darts, topstitching them to help them hold and to give a little added visual depth.

I also made the dress sleeveless. This must be the ONLY dress in McCall's arsenal that's doesn't have a sleeveless option - usually the problem is finding a dress WITH sleeves. The dress, in it's natural, sleeved state has a high armhole so I didn't have to modify that at all. I just redrew the facings to include the armcyc and sewed up as usual with this configuration. I had planned on putting a side zipper in but the dress slips on without any opening needed so I just ditched it altogether. I prefer having the zipper in the side rather than the back but I prefer not having to deal with a zipper at all, if possible. So there you have it, one summer dress/jumper!

The top is from my TNT knit top pattern, an out of print Butterick that's no longer on their site. Sad! I snatched the sleeve from Simplicity 4076. I used the flared sleeve, folded out some of the flare, then gathered into a band that's just a little larger than my bicep. I also gathered the neckline to match the sleeve. I like how it worked out. :)

Anyway, hope to have more to show you soon - tonight is DH's guys' night so I've got the place to myself and I plan to use it to sew along to all the music that annoys him. :)

Squee!

2009-05-28T22:34:00.001-07:00

So friend comes over today and he's just sitting around chatting when he notices the sewing machines. And, likely, the dress form, fabric, rulers, cutting mat, pattern boxes, two inches of thread scraps on the floor ... anyway, he picked up the subtle clues that there was a sew-er in the house. So he commented on it with the standard "hey, cool, always wanted to learn, great thing ..." then so casually mentions that his mom sews ... for Disney. She's head of the costuming department for Disneyland. With a warehouse of fabric, a team of seamstresses, racks and racks of costumes, designers finding ways to make two dimensional characters live and deal with all those little technical details like keeping Mickey from passing out from the heat and making sure Belle can get out of her dress without too much trouble. Also she apparently convinced the Mouse to buy what's basically a giant fabric printer so they can print up their own stuff. This woman is my idol. And friend has promised to pass on my contact stuff since his mom apparently loves chatting with younger seamstresses and loves passing on stuff she's learned. Squee!! Seriously, combining sewing and Disney and it's like chocolate covered strawberries - double the fantasticness.

Anyway, had to share my excitement de-jour. :)

Faire Day!

2009-05-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we made our annual pilgramage to Scarborough Faire and had an absolutely wonderful time. It wasn't too hot (always a danger in Texas), the crowds were quite manageable and the shopping was, as always, fantastic. Funny, I can go a full year without stepping foot in a mall (and I think I have ... I really don't remember the last time we went) but trade out generic trendy clothes with ren faire garb and bath and body works for small scale lotion and oil makers and I'm totally there. Got some of the best jelly ever made - Raspberry Chipolte from Mrs. McArthur's (sold by the lady herself) - reloaded on some scented body oil which also happens to be the ONLY thing that consistently works to tame my hair (seriously), and picked up a gorgeous hand-thrown pottery cereal bowl. All while enjoying the sun and demos and fellow patrons and shows and food and time with DH. Great days!

The guy and I - my dress is a modification of a self-drafted princess seamed dress made up in a light faux suede with a boned bodice and side lacing over a very, very basic chemise. I think I need something new by next ren faire (Wisconsin's is late summer/early fall so we're double dipping this year!) as the chemise doesn't fit right and tends to ride up, requiring constant tugging to make sure my not-so period undies aren't part of the visible costume. And, on the opposite side, this is the ren faire, the one time in the year I rather want to show some cleavage. So might as well. :) The shoes are from Payless and are some of my favorites for looks but they're hot and hurt like the dickens after a few hours of walking so one more reason to retire the garb to the costume closet. Like most things in there, I'm sure I"ll find odd opportunities to pull them out again. DH is wearing a shirt I made years ago and which he also wore for our wedding. Pants are just basic dress pants - he has a pair he's making but didn't get done in time. So he's slowly building his own collection of garb.

This is the most adorable, gorgeous sculpture I've ever seen - a little brass dragon just hatching. I love dragons in general and this little guy was so alive, so personable. And, unfortunately, so very, very out of my price range. One day!

DH didn't finish his pants but he did finish making these felt boots from Butterick 5233. After a LOT of modifications, they worked. Unfortunately he didn't use enough glue on the soles and they didn't give the ankle support he wanted (granted, he seems to think ski boots are the base standard for that, so take that as you will) so he switched back to his old black hiking boots mid day. Still, I think he did a great job on these boots! They're his first finished sewing project and he survived! He did note that my perfectionistic and planning-ahead personality seems to be far better suited to sewing than his more loose, go-with-the-flow style. Since most of life seems to reward his personality it was rather gratifying to find one area that rewards my style. :) Still, he did a fantastic job (in my biased opinion) and he's still talking about finishing his pants so he apparently wasn't scarred by all the seam ripping and little problems that inevitably popped up.

Back in the game!

2009-05-22T21:43:00.000-07:00

I live!

After the craziness of finals and finishing up the SWAP I just needed a little vacation and took it, as much as I could, last week. Now I'm back and keeping busy. Whipped up a ton of little rice and flaxseed heat packs for the shop as well as some nice little cases for them and have a few robes in process. But that's boring work stuff. For myself I'm participating in the Stitcher's Guild's Wardrobe in a Week sew along starting ... today? Yesterday? Now-ish, either way. The idea is to whip up four garments that form a little mini capsule. I want to start on a summer addition to my SWAP stuff, with the end goal of getting ready for the trip to florida we're taking with the in-laws later this summer. We'll be doing the standard sight-seeing, beaches, and snorkling. Or at least everyone else will do all that - last time I went snorkling I nearly drowned. And since I was in the "learn to snorkle" pool at Disney World it was rather embarrasing. Five year olds were flippering past me as I clung to a rock trying to breath. The problem's the mask - I breath with my nose, not my mouth, and that led to a string of errors that wound up with me almost needing the cute young lifeguard to come out and rescue me.

Come to think of it, I should have let him. Hm.

Anyway, plan is to make up three florida worthy pieces and one piece that needs ironing so no traveling but I need in my life here.

Plan:
- Black drawstring skirt - mostly self-drafted by this point. It's in the background, being drafted.
- Black linen/poly sleeveless dress, with the white embroidered flowers at the hem. I think I'll add some more white details at the top... have to see what it needs. Anyway, cut out, will sew later this weekend.
- Blue TNT knit shirt from my old favorite, Butterick 3344. I'm playing with the sleeves on this one and cut out little bishop sleeves to see how I like them.
- Blue button-up shirt. I haven't cut yet but think I'll use Butterick 4985. A little labor intensive but if it takes longer than a week then that's ok.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. It's great to be back!

Also, I'm starting up summer sewing classes. If anyone in the Dallas area is interested please shout and I'll send you details.

Done!

2009-05-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the encouragement and all papers and finals got turned in and I'm officially and totally FREE from semester related duties now. And DH did a fantastic job cleaning so the place was nice and I got to doze while watching the new Lie to Me (I think I'm getting hooked) and the in laws came and were great and brought Cheerwine and we went out for the graduating class picnic and free food and now we're back, things are quiet, and I feel so wonderfully free.

Such a great feeling.

And now to pry the contacts off my little overused eyes and sleep for a day and a half. :)

Well, not quite since tomorrow DH graduates and I want to be somewhat alert ... but still, sleep for as long as possible.

Then hit the fabric store to get on the ball with the stuff I'm selling through a consignment store. My first little chance to really get my stuff out there! Looking forwards to it.

But that can wait until after sleep. :)

Odd things you think of during all nighters

2009-05-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

The last paper is 4/5ths of the way done and now just to get it that last fifth. I really shouldn't have let it slide this long but anyway... almost done.

But on another track, does anyone from the west coast remember the Nut Tree in Vacaville, CA? For YEARS the memories of that place have been ticking the edge of my brain but I couldn't remember the name. Red Oak was my most guessed yet consistently wrong attempt. It makes sense, looking at it. Two short words, treeish in nature... anyway, it finally clicked and I was able to find pictures and stories of that old tourist place. And dear heavens the 80s were ugly. And almost nostalgic in the way only childhood memories can be. Children of the 90s and millennium, hug your parents to thank them for the far better designed (if slightly more depressing and overcrowded) world they gave you.

Anyway, back to the Nut Tree, anyone else remember the rocking horses, playground mirrors, little train, and toy shop there? We never did eat at the restaurant, at least not as I remember since my family was still living rather meager on a lower ranked officer's pay. My little brother has no idea how good he has it, being born later into a less transient, more wealthy family. Funny how a few years can make such a difference.

And that's really all. The musings of a brain on too much caffeine, too little sleep, and worn out from a long semester. And my in laws arrive tomorrow. And the living room needs only a pizza box to look like the worst stereotype of a bachelor pad. Ok, if bachelor pads had sewing machines, fabric scraps, and a dress form. Still, messy doesn't begin to describe the disaster of papers and fabric that bear testimony to all I've gotten finished in the last week. Fortunately my in-laws are fab ... but it's still annoying that their first view of the apartment can't be a little nicer. And DH has a funeral to go to tomorrow morning (no one close, but a 95 year old woman he got to know through church) so he's out for cleaning duty. Oh well. I'll try to see the mess as one of accomplishment. Four finals, five papers, and a SWAP all finished and turned in. That's something to be proud of.

One success!

2009-05-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

Got back my first final grade - 95%! Now to see if I can do anywhere near that good on the last one.

And still have three papers to get in. Eek!

Finals week in progress

2009-05-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

Two finals down, two to go...

Three papers down, three to go...

SWAP finished, pictures still to go ...

I feel like I'm on that knife's edge - too far to quit, but still a lot to slog through ... but at least it's happening. Little by little it's actually happening. And many, many thanks to DH who's serving as my editor. It's fair, student wives have been doing it for ages. Time and past for a little equality. :)

Also joyous news, we got our move out date moved from next Tuesday (eek!) to the 25th. So I don't have to spend the weekend madly packing after a week of low sleep and high stress. You have no idea how relieved I am. We'll find out tomorrow if we got approved to stay through the summer but for now those extra few days are enough to make breathing far, far easier.

Writer's block

2009-05-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Seriously, brain is utterly blocking on me. I'm loosing the ability to form a simple sentence and all thanks to Turabian. Stupid formatting system - I know what I want to say but I keep getting tripped up with the footnotes and looking up exact details and my word processing program (endnote, not Word - endnote's free and minorly less glitchy) will NOT let me change it's standard formatting so I keep trying to fix it as I go which is NOT working. I need to give it a rest and just write the darn thing with bad formatting and go back and fix it later. I just hate how regimented it is - I totally get the need for some formatting and some way to cite sources so that facts can be checked or used to help others trace the trail of what you're saying but really, does it MATTER if I have my footnotes indented exactly 1.5" or whatever it is? Will you really have trouble reading my paper without that indent? Will my sources be any harder to find, will my research make any less sense if I don't spend a full half our changing every freakin' footnote to fit that arbitrary guideline? Grr. Making it worse, in college I got very friendly with APA style formatting and really liked it. For a bit there I could do perfect formatting without having to pause and look stuff up. And NO footnote citations, all in-text. Much nicer. Much easier. So now it's extra frustrating because not only can I no longer just type and format as I know how, I've got to use this incredibly complex, detailed system that my word processor doesn't like. Grr.

Ok, back to typing.

No SWAP photos today. :(

2009-05-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

Meant to get the SWAP photos out of the way today but the weather went from dreary to drizzly to thunderstorm. Not so great for photos. However our apartment has the most fantastic view of the lightning strikes as the storm moves in - lots of air to ground strikes, very awesome. Must see if I can get a decent photo of that.

********

Update: So as soon as I got my camera the lightning strikes moved south and out of the line of sight so while they're still lighting up the evening sky quite impressively (and causing our router to go crazy for some reason), they're not very picturesque. Oh, well.

Finished! SWAP is Finished!!!!

2009-04-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

Got the jacket finished (tricky, that, since the buttonhole die I was using on my buttonhole attachment broke part way through and had to hand sew the stupid things) and hemmed the two tops that needed it making me fully and officially done with this year's SWAP!!

I'd post a pic of all the pieces but
(A) that would require digging two of them out of the laundry and
(B) I still have a paper to write tonight. So going to do that.

Still, happy!

Last SWAP item - Just about done!

2009-04-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Yay! It's yet another Butterick 3344 shirt though the sleeves were stolen from a simplicity pattern. I like cap sleeves and that's the one thing the butterick pattern is lacking so had to frankenpattern. And this means that four of my six SWAP tops are from one pattern. Which I probably bought for 99c. I think that counts as a very successful tried-and-true pattern and a very good deal. :)

So the current SWAP standing (with one day left to do it all)

DONE
4 tops
4 bottoms

Still to do
- Jacket - put in buttonholes, buttons
- White top - hem
- Black sweater - hem

So close!!!

And this weekend we'll do a photo shoot so I can show off all my pretties. :) Gotta wash a few of them first- I've been wearing them like crazy. I think that's what we call a winning wardrobe!

Last SWAP item - Spray painted shirt

2009-04-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

First, update: The coat is nearly done - it just needs buttonholes put in and buttons sewn on and it's completely finished. Yay! On the sad side, I lost two of my four green buttons so they're a no-go at the moment. Additionally, they were a little off from the green of the topstiching/buttonholes so I'm thinking black buttons after all. On the happy side I tested out my neato Geist/Singer buttonhole attachment and got the settings all tweaked to make the world's most gorgeous buttonholes. So tomorrow or the next day I'll whip those out. Happiness!

As for my very lastest item -

I realized I didn't have the time for the more elaborate silk top I wanted to make for my last SWAP item and, at the same time, realized I don't NEED an elaborate silk top. The items I'm wearing the most from my SWAP are all nice, pretty knit tops that I don't have to baby and can throw in a warm wash with all our other cottons. So went digging through my knit box and found a rather insane amount of white cotton/lycra knit. What was I thinking? White is NOT good too near my face. So began thinking and fiddling and thought - aha! - why not a white knit shirt with black screenprinting and a black collar? That should ensure it looks good on me and with the rest of the SWAP. However, I'm rather low on screenprinting materials. Like, none. What I did have is a bottle of black spray fabric paint and a small collection of stencils. I think I can do something with this.

I used a stencil originally intended for home dec painting or some such from Michaels and Tulip Cool Color Spray(c), also from Michaels. It's not the greatest fabric paint in the world and definitely has a bad tendency to squirt and drip rather than the nice airbrush spray it shows on the package, but it was significantly cheaper than the airbrush so it's not unexpected. And I rather liked the mottled look it gave. Rather faded and oddly designer-esque, if I may say so. We'll see how it looks when sewn up.

Since I wanted the stencil to be a little off the neckline I traced out the front so I could carefully position the stencil without worrying about the cut out piece stretching or moving like it always tries to do. Seriously, cut pattern pieces are slightly alive. After a bit of careful eyeballing and a lot of just throwing it in the right place and figuring it'll work I carefully covered up the rest of the top with DH's thesis rough draft (it was in the recycling bin) and sprayed until I was happy with the color. I liked it enough that I added another motif down at the bottom right hem. The whole thing took maybe 20 minutes and I like it, so far. I can see doing similar printing on other fabrics with other stencils - maybe a shadow of flowers or even an octopus. :) Fun results with low effort -works for me!

The paint needs to dry 24 hours so I can't finish the shirt until tomorrow. Good, since I'm still pounding out a paper and still have reading to get done. Sigh. The semester's nearly over, thank heavens! Now to just survive until then.

Jacket sneak-peak

2009-04-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Almost done! Just need to put in the partial lining, attach the belt loops, and hem it up! Oh, and a tad more topstitching. And button holes. Can't forget those. Especially since I now have an uber-gorgeous singer buttonhole attachment that makes buttonholes so very easy and so very perfect. So love my new toy.

Speaking of buttons and buttonholes, I pinned these green buttons on to see what I thought and ... not so much loving them. In real life they're not so pukey but they're still rather bright. I think I might do green buttonholes and some shiny black buttons with green thread holding them on. Might be just the thing to add a little color without going overboard. Must pick up some black buttons this weekend and see.

Jacket progress and topstitching love

2009-04-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

I love topstitching. Is there any other little detail you can add that punches so much class with so little effort? For the coat, which I'm about half way done with now, I'm topstitching the black denim with green. Actually two slightly different green threads, giving just a slight bit of extra depth and varigation. These are two of the strips that get cut into belt loops - don't they look so finished? I love.

It's been a bit of a challenge to relearn how to top stitch now that my new (to me) machines don't have the blindhem foot that I used like mad on my old machine. And, sadly, the motor on old machine is dying so using it was only an option if I wanted to handcrank every single stitch. So learning how to topstitch using the zigzag foot to keep me on track was a bit of a lesson in creative make-do-manship. And it worked, for the most part. And I realized that in doing this I've gotten better at really controlling my machine. Of course, with that lesson learned I'm still going to go shopping for a good topstitching foot just as soon as I can.

The jacket itself is coming along really nicely - thank you all for talking me into the more trendy and fun style! The black denim, now that it's part of a garment and not on the bolt, has a decided motorcycle bad-girl air to it that just works so fantastically well with the slightly sweet empire waist and candy green topstitching. Such fun juxtaposition.

Also, thank you for the kind words about the paper - it's just been one of those semesters where writer's block has come to camp out and naturally I've got a ton of papers still due. Sigh. Happily the paper I was whining about is actually due NEXT week, not this. Yeah, slight error with my dayplanner there. But a happy error! I'm feeling much better about it now. And now I know what to do next time I'm trudging through molasses - make gingerbread! :)

Decisions and a rather adolescent whine

2009-04-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

After some great advice I've decided to go with the shawl-front Project Runway design coat. Yeah, it's a bit trendy but, you know, I like it and I need something to make me smile. Plus, it's the easier of the two. And at this point in the game that counts for a lot. Thanks for the help and I really hope I'll be able to show off the coat in short order.

And for my childish whine - I have a paper due this evening and I Do. Not. Want. to do it. It's not that the topic's a problem or that I've had trouble finding research or anything like that. Just the simple act of organizing out my information and putting it together in coherent sentences and paragraphs and building an argument and citing everything correctly is rather overwhelming and my energy and enthusiasm for the task could not be lower. I'd really rather watch grass grow. Sigh. And there's little worse than trying to force one's self through a task that needs to be done fairly well but which one doesn't want to do. It's like dragging a full blown semi through molasses. And, worse, I can't be bribed. I wish I could do that old trick of setting an alarm and working hard until it goes off or giving myself chocolate or whatnot but repeated attempts have proven that it just doesn't work. I'll stare at the carpet until that alarm goes off or just go without the chocolate. I am, apparently, more stubborn than myself. Oh, well. Going to try talking through the paper as that's one trick that has a one in ten chance of working.

Help me pick my last SWAP pattern

2009-04-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

I'm juuuust about done with my SWAP but my jacket piece is proving to be my sticking point. It's not that I haven't tried - this will officially be my fifth attempt. Seriously. What happened to 1-4? Story for another time. Basics being that I tried to make fabric work rather than using the right fabric to begin with. So Friday I picked up 4 yards of black denim at Joanns and now it's washed ready to be cut. Unfortunately I can't decide which pattern is best for it. Can you help?

Option #1

Simplicity 4084

I'd make view C, the single breasted one shown in purple. Problem: I've lost the front yoke pattern piece back when making attempt #1 and I'm not sure the coat would look right without that overlay over the shoulder. It's not super easy to see in the pattern picture but that vertical line right at the shoulder seems to really make the pattern work. So I'm dithering on that. On the other hand the lines are good and I've already got the tissue pattern cut out to the right size. Again from attempt #1. So that's a time saver.

Option #2
Simplicity 2812

I'd make up the shawl collar version, the one shown in brown on the far right. Knee length. Problem: Not sure if the empire waist won't look totally '09 come next season. However I really like that shawl collar and if the high waist is my only issue then I could piece the parts together and cut as one, eliminating the empire waist. Right? Or is this one of those cases where, if I"m going to do it, I should just do it all the way and include the high waist? So many choices!

Ideally I want a nice lighter weight jacket that I can wear to class and out shopping, over my just-below-the-knee skirts and over my jeans alike. I plan on topstitching with some green thread that matches my green cord skirt and I bought some lovely green wood buttons so no matter what it won't be too boring.

So, what's your vote for the best use of this denim?
Thanks in advance!!!

Papercraft

2009-04-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

Nothing really groundbreaking, just wanted to share some truly fantastic and decidedly gothic paper models I ran across recently. And, even better, the artists have posted them as PDFs so you can download, print, and make them up for your very own.

Raven's Blight has a paper toy section that's beyond amazing - little gothic jewelry boxes, monsters, masks, a graveyard, board games - seriously fantastic. There's a number of things on there I soooo want to make up for myself.

Haunted Dimensions has paper models of all three Disney Haunted Mansions (Disney fun fact: Disneyland Hong Kong is the only one of the four major Disney parks to lack this ride) and judging by the gallery of made-up models, these are incredible. Now if only the artist would devote his every waking moment to making up same scale models for the rest of any one Disney park so I could set it all up and wander little avatars through it. I'm a bit of a Disney dork, I'll admit.

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[some googling later]

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Ooooh, my. I'm in love. Look! Look! A whole page of various Disney paper crafts from the Mark Twain to the original Disneyland Marquee, to Sleeping Beauty's castle ... so beautiful. So want to make.

A quick explanation

2009-04-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

So I'm at that age where baby bumps and the wardrobe challenges that come with it are a fairly regular concern with friends. Not with me. I'm still very baby-bump free and very happy to let my friends give me small ones to dote on and hand back before getting stuck with diaper duty.

So for a friend I was trying to get together a mini-swap worth of patterns and ideas to get her through the next half a year. And I use my blog as my note pad, especially since I wanted feedback ... unfortunately I have a bad habit of typing the title up there in that little title bar and then hitting enter.

Which posts a blank blog with a lone title.

Which is why some of you saw I had a new post.

Entitled "Maternity Wardrobe."

Which must have raised some questions.

So to clarify, the maternity in question is not mine, its' a friend's. Not me. Very certainly and happily not me. If you want to congratulate me, I'll take it on that account (it's amazingly hard to not get pregnant, despite modern medicine, especially if your body goes haywire when hormonal methods are so much as in the same room as it - and unfairly fertility isn't something you can donate to someone who'd put it to good use) but congrats for coming joys go to a friend. And another friend. And a belated congrats to yet another couple friends...

On the good side, western civilization will keep going another generation, if my friends have anything to do with it. I'm just here to see they're looking and feeling good whilst doing it. :)

So with that, any ideas for good maternity patterns? With all the empire waists and baggy looks I'm finding a number in the women's section of patterns that look like they'll work but I'd love some voices of experience. Morzel's SWAP on stitcher's guild has been my main source so far and it's fab but, of course, the more ideas the better!

Wearing my SWAP (day 2)

2009-04-16T16:30:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I wore my black peasant top and denim skirt and today I wore this, my purple knit top and finally hemmed black wool skirt. With my favorite new pumps. New shoes make me so very happy. When I'm done I want to do a big photo session a-la Lucky's old week of styles where they show all the pieces individually, rather like paper doll clothes, then a week of the subject wearing them all. Similar to their current month of styles but less ambitious. :)

Another thought, I've really loved doing this SWAP and don't want to stop. I might see how much farther I can take it. Maybe a few more tops, at least one of them a nice blouse, another skirt (I like skirts), a pair of nice pants, a cardigan, a denim jacket ...

Warm and cozy plans

2009-04-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, this summer we begin our rather protracted move from Texas to Wisconsin where we'll spend the coldest part of 09 and 10 before coming back to Texas. Talk about different needs ... my poor little wardrobe doesn't have a single jacket warmer than my mom's old leather one. Bought in souther California. And our throw blankets, at this point, hit a grand total of one. So as the weeks count down I'm finding I'm drawn to warm knit and crochet blankets to snuggle up in while reading or working. And quilts to cover the walls of my basement sewing room (if we get the townhouse that we're asking for).

So a few of the patterns on Lion Brand that have caught my attention - btw, you'll probably have to register to see the actual instructions, I'm sorry. If it helps, they take fake email addresses so you won't get bothered by them.

Cascading Colors Baby Blanket

I am so in love with the color blending going on in this. I love shading and watercolors and this is the knit version of that. And with two strands of yarn it's got to be both quick and warm. Very, very nice.

Log Cabin Afghan

Warm and graphic. I'd like this in a shades of green/shades of lavender mix, or perhaps cream and olive shades. Or some other mix that catches my eye in those piles of lovely yarn.

Shaded Blanket

My mom's mom must have loved making up this rickrack style blanket because we have a couple passed on by her. Of course they're all in ever-so-70s style colors which, for most of my life, I thought were intensely ugly. Suddenly they're looking rather nice and that worries me. But anyway, the pattern itself triggers nice nostalgic happiness for me and I like that I can choose yarn colors that don't include the word "umber" or "brick" in them. Greens, again, would make me happy. I'm a very green person. In decorating, still working on in lifestyle.

8-Color Afghan

Doesn't this just say coziness to you? Granted, with all those little holes, it's probably not nearly as warm as it looks, but it certainly shows off well. I think it might be more country chic than I would ever truly go for but I still love it. Especially in a nice guest room with a white quilted bedspread and light filtering through the trees outside. Of course, we don't have a guest room. Or a tree. But someday. Of course, I'll probably take over the guest room with sewing stuff ... but that's reality. In my little dream world there's a guest room that's not overflowing with extra fabric and gift wrap and there's a tree outside and it's always green. My dream, my rules.

Unsquared Baby Throw

So this tops the list of completely impractical yet gorgeous throws. Really, a bit of lace will warm you up just as much but I still love the fun, bright, multicolored circles. I think I'd make this up with a bunch of different sizes and mix and match them around until I got a growth pattern I liked (because, let's face it, even in bright colors it's rather remenicent of very pretty mold) and then back it with a nice complimentary flannel blanket so it could actually work as a throw. Still, fantastically fun colors. Lion brand also has a similar but more grown up (and not-free) throw called their Lock Lomond Afghan and I'm even more in love with that one. Yes, it looks like elaborate fungus. Maybe I LIKE fungus. In certain contexts.

So, do any of you have a favorite throw pattern? Knitting, crochet, and quilting are all options. I'm only actually good at crochet, but I can muddle through the other two and, hey, I can only get better. :)

Wearing my SWAP

2009-04-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

This is me yesterday on my way to class wearing shirt #5 of my SWAP and bottom #2. Or, in pattern numbers, New Look 6785 and Simplicity 3754. I really love my new black top and it wasn't hard to make at all. The pattern went together really smoothly with just the fabric itself tripping me up - it's rough crinkle cotton from Joann's and I've certainly learned a lot. The first being that while it said 45" on the bolt, that's before the crinkle process. Afterwards it's a lot less which makes a cutting layout fun. I could have ironed it out flat and cut but that would have made for some interesting distortions at the seams so I just went with the crinkle, cutting slowly and figuring any mistakes would be hidden in the fabric itself.

To keep the crinkle from uncrinkling as I sewed (since machines, by nature, really like fabric flat as it feeds) I started by with the collar since that was interfaced. First basted collar back to interfacing, keeping the fabric on the bottom as I sewed and letting the feed dogs do their thing and ease that bottom layer to fit the interfacing, and then I sewed the outside collar to the interfaced inside, again letting the feed dogs ease in the new fabric just enough to fit it. Next sewed the front and back pieces to the sleeves, going slow and decreasing the pressure on my presser foot to keep from stretching out the fabric more than absolutely necessary. Serged the seams to finish them. From there sewed the body of the dress to the neckline (treating all three layers of the neckline as one - no fussy sewing of the top layer then turning over and handsewing for this dress - it's too casual for that) and then, once I happy with it, serged the seam. Took a while because instead of gathering, I pleated in the front, sleeves, and back and it took a few tries to get the pleats just right.

Sewed little band to sleeves leaving 1" unfinished, serged the sides, then used that hanging 1" of sleeve band to cover over stitching and finish sleeves. Which probably doesn't make a lot of sense. Hm. Must think of better way to word that.

Serged hem, turned up and handstitched blind hem. Still deciding how I like it.

Anyway, wound up with a nice little tunic top that I really like! I'd like to make a few more, first in some gorgeous purple satin I have and then a few more breezy cotton versions though those I'd like to be closer to knee length - unfortunately, due to that whole not-really-45" thing I could only get a tunic out of this one. Oh, well. Great pattern, though, and I'm just about done with my SWAP!

And, best, I'm actually WEARING every part of my SWAP, so far. Well, except for the black sweater I didn't finish until it was already in the 70s here. But that doesn't count. Once it's cool it'll get worn too. So success!

SWAP Progress check

Finished
Top #1 - Black tee
Top #2 - Maroon Cowl
Top #3 - Purple knit top
Top #4 - Black cowl sweater
Top #5 - Black peasant blouse (this one!)
Bottom #1 - Denim skirt
Bottom #2 - Green cord
Bottom #3 - Black yoga pants
Bottom #4 - Black wool skirt

In Progress
Jacket - Black Coat (which is being a pain - seriously, I've ripped more seams out of this thing...)

To Start
Top #6 - Purple satin tunic

Sooooo close!

Apron pattern review

2009-04-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I teach sewing classes in my little neck of the woods. I've been having trouble finding a good pattern for my second level class for those who now know how to use their machine but need to learn to read patterns. Especially since my students are, inevitably, either pregnant or male. Seriously. I did have two who were female and not pregnant ... but they were in grade school. So the standard PJ pants bit is out (besides, I always hated those so I'm letting my bias steer me away from them) and robes just take up so much fabric. So for my latest class I tried out Simplicity 2824, a sewing for Dummies apron that's sized for both kids and women and, I figure, men can use it too. Or just suck it up and make it for someone else because, really, I'm tired of trying to work with every possible contingency. Ahem.

Anyway.

V was my only student for this class which was great for testing out a pattern. I'm still learning to read instructions as a newbie and have that bad habit of filling in instruction gaps with my own experience, something a newbie can't do. So while it looked like a good pattern, it's always helpful to have someone else who isn't used to interpreting sketchy instructions go through it. And V found some problems...

By and large it's a good pattern, very basic, very little fabric required, and very simple with a lot of the steps building on previous ones to really help the beginner learn. However if Simplicity is going to market these to total newbies (and I figure that's what the Sewing for Dummies label is targeting) then they really need to get the instructions just about perfect. Case in point: for the little tab that holds the D ring for the top strap it tells you to fold the little rectangle piece "lengthwise." Dictionary.com defines this as being along the length of a piece. Ok. Except in this case you're NOT suppose to fold it that way. You're supposed to fold it with the short edges together. And nothing beyond just looking at it and realizing that gets you the right size and shape indicates that they're wrong in the instructions. It's a small point but, when you're helping a newbie who wants to get each step just right, it's important.

Fortunately beyond that the pattern went together smoothly and V absolutely loves her new apron and was talking about other patterns she'd like to tackle so it looks like she's hooked. :)

For those considering this pattern I would recommend going with a lighter weight cotton for the ties and regular for the body - V chose the opposite and had a tough time turning the thin straps and ties inside out. And I would never try making this from heavier fabric - it'd be an utter pain to get those edges folded and sewn. For that much work I want a fancier apron to show for it!

Still, it worked out well beyond those notes and I'll be using it in the future for other second level sewing classes. And it does sew up quickly and makes a great gift for all those chefs on the list so for that it's a win. :)

Some vintage goodies

2009-04-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

Some pretties from my vintage pattern box.

This instruction sheet was found inside another pattern's envelope. Unfortunately I don't have the pieces but the pattern shapes wouldn't be too difficult to recreate from a sloper. Well, in a relativistic sense. Compared to, say, recreating it from just a drawing. But anyway, I absolutely love that second view, the dress with the gorgeous bishop (?) sleeves. Isn't that utterly glamorous?

This reminds me of pictures of my grandmother, so pulled together and just slightly sporty. I can't really wear that high neckline and the points would probably annoy me, but I still like it. Imagine it made up in a gorgeous hunter green twill with contrast topstitching on the pockets.

This one is, without a doubt, my favorite. Unfortunately it didn't have the pattern piece for those fabulous sleeves but it does have line drawings of the pieces so, once again, it's not impossible to redraft. I'm not certain how I'd make this up for myself in this decade - perhaps as a nice coat with some redoing of that back to make it more heavy-material friendly? Or should it stay a dress. Hm. I really don't plan on making it up anytime soon but it's fun to dream.

"Hi, I'm new, what machine should I buy?"

2009-04-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

A fact of life on sewing forums is that at least once a week a newbie will stop in and ask That Question. Faced with three classes of machines (sewing, serger, coverstitch), a dozen families (Janome, Singer, Bernina, etc) and a million individual species their eyes glaze over and they cry out, "Which one??"

Inevitably in a single post. Their first one. Some even give a wish list, hoping desperately for someone to say "here, here is your machine."

It doesn't work, though. First off, the constraints are often a bit too high. You want a fantastic, reliable, user-friendly machine that can handle leather and all for less than $100? So would I, kid. So would I. But even when the asker is within reasonable bounds it's just not an answerable question. So many variables are in place, from what dealers are near-by, how good each dealer is, what machines do they have, and how has that changed since the sewing experts you're asking has last gone in all affect the advice. And even if askee has every machine available to them at a Mall of America's worth of fantastic dealerships then, even with all that open to them, there's still no easy answer.

Just like with cars, each person has a machine personality and a machine need. That's why there's minivans, SUVs, neons, corvettes, and miatas - because we're not a nation that would all be happy with just a civic. Some are, of course, but others (*cough* me) love our more excentric vehicles. In the same way not every beginning sew-er will be happy with this model Kenmore or that model Bernette. I finally passed on my own Bernette 55 because it annoyed me - so much plastic, so many little things I didn't like about it. My friend, it's new owner, absolutely adores every bit that frustrated me. Go figure. At the same time she thinks my metal beasts, the twin Rocketeers (I've decided to keep them both, btw, they're very happy sisters), are rather ugly and overpowered. And heavy. Ok, I agree on that last point. But they're perfect for me, everything I want in a machine. And so far from what another stitcher would. So please understand if, when you ask what machine you should get, I can't give you a straight answer. There simply isn't one ... there's simply no other way to find Your One then to dive on in and test drive as many as you can to find out your own machine personality and then finding the one that fits. Knowing that if this isn't The One then no worries, another will show up. Because that's the second truth of sewing machines - once you have two a third will show up, then a fourth. Like cats. :)

So what machines do you have and how do they fit your personality? What 'type' are you? I'm an in-control, solid metal, slightly steampunk girl and my babies follow that. :) What are you?

Shoe insanity and dress up fun

2009-03-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

My friend M came over today to find a ren faire costume and, you know, it's just as much fun to play dress up now as it was as kids. Even better, the shoes usually fit and I've gotten MUCH better with that lipstick. :) She did find some stuff that looked like it was made for her - a Rohan-ish linen dress I made years ago for a Return of the King party and haven't worn since, mostly because the dark blue with gold accents does nothing for me. She, however, looked gorgeous in it. We're going to Scarborough Faire with her and her husband in a few weeks so I'll snap pictures then, promise!

For my own outfit I plan on re=using my fairy garb from last year but the boots I wore with it are a total no-go. They're quite cute but the poly suede doesn't breath and there's no good support and the heels punch through the dirt ... such a pain. So what's a gal to do but make her own shoes? I'm using a McCall's pattern for moccasins suspiciously like those sold by Medieval Moccasins and of which the internet has no record. Hm. And the non-suspiciously-familiar shoes included in the package have been reissued as a Butterick pattern. Discuss amongst yourselves and formulate your own conspiracy theories.

I've traced out the pattern and got it fitted to my size (not easy when I'm apparently two sizes below the XXS - thanks a lot McCall's) and will start cutting tomorrow - tonight I'm exhausted, still a little shaky from the (cough) six cups of coffee I had (conference this morning and it's what they had to drink!) and really not in a good state to be holding anything bladed. :)

In similar news, DH found out about my cobbling aspirations and decided to make up his own pair of boots, version C from Butterick 5233.

Unfortunately he's two sizes BIGGER than the largest size (XL) so more mods had to be done. And he wants a cuff and for those tabs on the side to be smoothed out for a more medieval, less Indian look. So tonight he learned how to trace a pattern, pin-fit it, and size up. :) He did good!

And now for sleep. Soooo sleeeepy.

SWAP - 7/12ths of the way done!

2009-03-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

The bearded one and I have been doing a systematic cleaning of the apartment in prep for the move this summer and today it was the bedroom. We decided to rearrange since we were cleaning out as well and for just a short bit we had a full wall cleared. I pounced on the opportunity to get my present SWAP items all hung up in a bit of a collage. It's not great - three of them got pulled out of the suitcase and two out of the ironing pile and one's still needing the hems done - but hey, it lets you see where I'm at! Three bottoms finished, four tops, and I've got another bottom and two jackets in progress. The end is actually in sight!

So what do you think?

Looking over the items I'm struck, first of all, at how badly wrinkled they are. Especially the knits. Seriously, aren't those supposed to be just about magically resistant to wrinkles? Sigh. Also they're all so bland at the moment. I might add some cutwork to the purple top. Not sure about the black but I think the cowl's too high and stiff. I just made that today and the hem's waiting for me to set up the double needle in my machine so it's a total WIP. Still, once on and with the right accessories they're all great pieces and I've been wearing the tails off of all of them. It's getting a bit warm for the black and maroon tops but next winter I'd really need them (Wisconsin, here we come!) and so don't mind packing them away. I really dislike long sleeves and sweaters and get so tired of the ones I have so hopefully a couple new ones in the mix will help brighten up those cold days.

On a totally other topic, thanks to Sharon and Rose (Rose and Sharon ... Rose of Sharon - my favorite flower!) for the sisterhood award! Technically I'm supposed to pass this on but I'm already behind with the previous award and I don't want to nominate someone who's already gotten it or forget someone who's richly deserving of it and so ... I'm going to be bad and non communal and all that and just tell you all straight up that I've yet to go to any of your blogs (and, if you've commented or are on my sidebar, I do go often!) and not be inspired and encouraged!

And in a third topic, I'm ebaying the duchess satin silk I originally bought for my wedding dress. If you've been needing, say, seven yards of slightly golden cream silk then, hey, gotcha covered. I figure all of you are fine on silk at the moment but just in case, I'd rather it go to one of y'all's homes than anyone else!

My sewing story

2009-03-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

For creative writing last semester we were to write one piece that was to encapsulate us and our history in some way - the guidelines were vague but there. After a lot of brainstorming and false starts this little story is what I came out with. It's sort of about how I first learned to sew but really it's, at heart, about female bonding, the stress we put on ourselves to be domestic, and evil sewing machines. Posting because (a) I haven't gotten around to photographing my latest SWAP stuff and want to post SOMETHING and (b) I figured y'all could relate. :) One caveat - this isn't a terribly polished piece, it's definitely a rough draft. But I still enjoyed it. I got to read it outloud and at the "saucy" line in the first paragraph EVERY female in the room was laughing while the guys were looking at each other and asking what was so funny. It was fantastic. :)

And mom, if you're reading this - please know that after I read this, you were the hero and soul mate of every woman in that class.

Domestic Bonding

Mom tried to teach me to sew, she really did. When I was nine she felt it was time for some female bonding and pulled out her old plastic machine, the sort that costs less than a blind date and performs just as well. But her mom sewed, her grandmother sewed, and her great grandmother sewed so some sense of history (or, more likely, domestic guilt heightened by nine years of microwaved dinners and store bought birthday cakes) led her to clear out a corner in the junk room for that machine.

I swear it hissed when she moved it.

With care mom showed me how to cut out the pattern, lay it out on the fabric, then swear when it all slid off the table in a heap. Next came the seams and the first match with the machine. The needle broke. New needle, restart the seam – and the needle broke again, this time sending a sharp shard pinging off against mom's glasses.

It was official, the sewing machine was out for blood.

Yet another new needle, and many colorful words later I'd learned quite a bit about sewing – the first being that mom was best left to do it on her own. I didn't want to be a casualty in the war between her sense of maternal guilt and that machine. Many dark evenings later mom emerged, triumphant, with my new nightgown. It was – creative. Lovingly made. Happily handmade with care. And oh so very, very twee. I tried it on and hid my relief that, in addition to being stiff and dead ugly, it was also two sizes too small. And unlike a grinch's heart, this was not about to grow. Mom taught me yet another new word and the nightgown and machine were both bundled away out of sight.

Years and a home economics class later I disturbed the machine again with visions of a dress for the high school play dancing in my mind. After all, it couldn't be too difficult, right? I'd underestimated the machine's resentment at being pulled from it's dark reseting place. In the end the epic battle between woman and machine was done and I emerged, mostly triumphant, with a medieval dress that almost looked wearable. If you squinted. It was a proud moment. The machine conceded defeat grudgingly though it never got used to being used and four years later it committed suicide. With that, a new machine came into my life, my grandmother's beautiful vintage Viking with solid metal gears and a whole box of beautiful feet. A partnership was born and together we've spent many lovely summer afternoons.

Mom, in her turn, has happily gone on with life without a homicidal sewing machine lurking in the closet and has started up a successful scrap-booking career that supports her new life of work and friends, and dinners out. And we've bonded, instead, over pedicures, trips, and a mutual dislike for domestic ought-to-bes.

Seven Basics and a thought

2009-03-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry, just haven't been in a post-y mood recently. It comes and goes - give it another month and I'll be posting daily and commenting like mad on all your blogs. :) Does that make me a bipolar blogger? Hm.

Anyway, at Artisan Square someone posted that Donna Karan's returning to her designing roots of her seven basics: Body suit, wrap skirt, tailored jacket, tailored pants, cashmere knits, robe-like coat and evening wear. The idea is that these pieces form a sort of swap, working for home, office, and evening events. Neat, though personally I'm not feeling the items themselves. Wrap skirt? Tried, don't like. Body suit? Love the clean lines, don't so much love the gymnastics of rebuttoning after a bathroom break.

So I present my basics. Not authoritative but, hey, this is a blog. :)

1. Nice knit shirt

Preferably a v neck, in a great fabric and a good, versatile color. For me that usually means black. Hazard of being a tech chic from DC.

2. Trim pencil skirt

one in black, one in denim, and you're ready for most anything.

3. Long but fairly fitted button up shirt

Tuck into skirt for the standard business uniform, throw on over the knit shirt for a loose, casual jacket, or button up and wear over the skirt with a belt cinching it in.

4. Jeans - Dark wash, well fitted, with a bit of flare

Non negotiable. Come what trends may, I NEED my flare.

5. Little black dress

Hey, classics are classics for a reason. Doesn't actually have to be black if that's not your look - any color that plays well with others works. Just make sure it's well fitted and nice enough to go to the symphony in. Throw the button up shirt over it for a nice office look or wear it with the denim skirt for a shell look.

6. Bright wool coat

Because too much black is boring, especially in winter.

7. Gorgeous layering sweater

Pick the neckline and color best for you. Layered over the LBD, button up shirt, or knit shirt it looks fab and keeps you warm. And I'm all about being warm.

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There they are, the Alicia Jeanae 7 basics. I'm working on making these into a reality with my SWAP. So far it's coming ... I've got the pencil skirts covered, made up one layering sweater, and (not included in the official SWAP as they're not sewn by me) bought a pair of jeans and was given a small collection of fitted longer buttonup shirts. So I'm just missing the nice knit tops (next on the sewing list) and a great coat. Which I really, really need but haven't settled on the fabric. Since we're already to short sleeve weather here, it's not a pressing concern so I'll take my time. :)

So agree, disagree with my choices? Think I'm missing something critical? Got your own choices?

Finished at last!

2009-02-21T22:10:00.001-08:00

Finished a McCall's dress that's been in progress since FOREVER ... or at least the last year. Unfortunately I think it still needs a little work - it was too large in the back so I took it, still loose, took in again, still loose, then got frustrated and took it in over 2". Now it's a little too tight and the sleeves won't let my arms move forwards enough to type. This is not so good. Soooooo got to take the zipper out AGAIN and move it once freakin' more. Sooooo tired of this zipper. Oh well. Until then it's wearable so long as arm movement isn't high on my to do list. Will take picture soon to show off. :)

A little behind

2009-02-17T20:34:00.000-08:00

So much stuff piling up!!

That's my excuse for not posting earlier... like for the past few weeks. Sigh.

I've just been busy. Really.

And I couldn't find the camera cord. See, valid excuses, all. If I keep on will you believe me?

Sigh, sigh, sigh.

Still, for all my procrastinating on posting, I have been sewing. A lot of stuff for the shop which you can see by clicking over to that or checking out the shop blog, cherrylime.blogspot.com. I won't bore you with it here. :) The one new creation I do want to share, though, is the chemise and robe set that I'm developing. Because I can't just get one design and stick with it. :) I got inspired by a box of discounted cotton lawn fabric from Fabric.com that was just the craziest prints. So very, very 70s, all of them. Naturally the one I bought the most of was the biggest WTH? one - dyed stripes of mocha cream and BRIGHT pink with gold paisley and flowers all over. Glittery gold. Seriously. I really loathed the stuff. So figured I should use it for my muslin for the first chemise and summer robe and somewhere between the bolt and the garment I really began to like the fabric. Go figure. I think it was just too much when it was in fabric form while in chemise form it somehow works. Funny how that works.

Here's the muslin of the chemise - it's a very simple design, basically a trapazoid with scoops out for the arms. I like it.

Right before my wedding mom got me a high-end little nighty with the same basic design but the fabric was so stiff it was uncomfortable and the straps didn't adjust which had the empire waist hitting about halfway down my little C cups. Not the look I was going for. She returned it and I left thinking that I could do that and so much better. So nearly two years later this is my stab at doing so. :)

To go with it, this is the very beginnings of a sleeveless robe. I still need to add the lace to the armcycs, add in-seam pockets, sew up the sides, topstitch, hem, iron ... there's a lot to do. So please don't be too critical of the picture as it is. There's still a lot to be done! But it should give you an idea of where I'm going with it. I really like the addition of the wrap ties and might convert my normal cotton robes to wraps as well. Still considering, but I like it for this garment.

So, there it is. A bit of what I've been keeping busy with. How 'bout you?

Break for Crochet

2009-02-02T06:45:00.000-08:00

(very much not me)

I've really been enjoying all the sewing the SWAP is forcing me to do but homework's began to pile up. In college, during a reading-intensive semester, I learned to crochet while reading so I decided to do something yarn-related as my SWAP jacket. Found a couple nice patterns last Friday and picked up some appropriate yarn on Saturday and started crocheting! After a few false starts I settled on this short sleeved jacket and started!

So far I've made it through the shoulders, which is more than I usually managed. I tend to get quickly bored while crocheting though reading while doing it helps a lot. It's a really basic lace motif that, once I got it down, meant I could stash the rather confusing directions and just go with it. So far I like result fairly well ... I'm not using the exact yarn they recommend, mostly because I forgot everything but the recommended oz by the time I got to Michael's and so just went by that and my favorite colors. I did find a gorgeous, slightly variegated dark green that'll look great with everything in the SWAP so yay to that. However I forgot that I tend to be a tight crocheter and the yarn isn't draping like the picture. I'm hoping that the weight of the whole thing will cause drapiness but, at the moment, it's a little bunchy and stiff. So we'll see. The good thing is that if it fails out I really haven't lost anything. It's forced me to plow through some reading assignments so if that's all I get out of it that's fine. Still, I wouldn't mind a pretty wrap. :)

Award and A Fun Green Skirt

2009-01-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

Thank you Sarah for the Kreative Blog award! I'll do some indepth research this afternoon finding out if any of you creative bloggers hasn't gotten one yet and pass it on. :)

In other news, I got piece #4 of my SWAP finished! Just ... 7 more pieces to go. Gulp. Don't think about it, just keep pressing on... And fortunately the last bunch (save for the pesky jacket) should be easy. Knit yoga pants, another skirt from this pattern, a couple more cowlneck sweaters, and a handful of quick knit shirts should do it.

Anyway, the skirt.

(review copied wholesale from my Pattern Review review.)

From Simplicity 3754

Pattern Description:
A set of denim-style skirts with narrow and flared options. Different lengths and trim make the pattern very versatile.

Pattern Sizing:
True to size! Yay, simplicity!

I measure a 14 but have learned to beware of the Big 4's assumption that I like ten inches of ease in fitted stuff and so traced and pinfitted a 12. It was just this side of snug (meaning that, amazingly enough, this pattern seems to run true to size!) so I went with it but sewed 3/8" side seams, effectively giving myself an extra inch. I also, during the pinfitting stage, pinched out a bit from the back waistband and skirt and, from that, redrafted the back waistband to be a little smaller and added darts to the bottom back of the skirt, all to account for my swayback.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes it did! I found it to be a very cute, very well designed pattern. Great job, simplicity! Granted, I would have liked to see approximate lengths of the skirts, instead of the line drawings they have with no point of reference. Ah, well, can't have everything.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes, though I tended to just use them when doing something I'd never done before. Like the faux fly front. Tip: bypass their faux way of doing it and just do it the right way. I've never put in an actual fly front but I've been told it's very easy, especially when using Sandra Benzine's (did I spell that right? Credit the right person?) method. I'll do that next time since the faux fly, while looking right, feels very odd when I'm zipping it. Like I short-sheeted my zipper opening.

Another tip: the belt carriers are not too long. They look it when you just lay them flat on the waist band and they overlap by a good 1/2". That's because they need to puff out a bit to hold the belt. Lesson learned. I'll need to do a little deconstruction and fixing to get that right. My excuse - it was 2:30 in the morning when I got to that step. I'm just thankful my finger isn't a part of this skirt.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
Great fit and style and comes together very quickly. A lot of look for a low investment. LOVE the deep pockets, very handy! And the little criss-cross belt carriers are a great detail. Dislike? The faux fly front. That's really it, everything else was and is great! Oh, and for those not sewing on an all-metal workhorse, this does have you sewing through (pauses to count) 8 layers of material at two points. My lovely vintage Singer slant-o-matic handled it without slowing down but I know my previous machine would have gone on strike, especially with this thick corduroy.

Fabric Used:
Chunky cotton corduroy from Joann's. Not the highest quality but a great, bright color and not something I was going to cry too hard over if it didn't work out.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
The pattern has you use the body fabric for all of the pattern but that would have been major bulk with this material, so I cut the pocket lining and facings out of a gorgeous bright pink and green paisley cotton. You can't see it when I wear the skirt but I know it's there and it makes me happy. I omitted the bias binding on the pocket edge - no need - and understitched and topstitched at every opportunity. For just a few minutes investment it adds a great finished look to the garment. Beyond that (and adding the back dart as described many sections ago), I actually left the pattern alone. Strange for me.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
In a heartbeat! This was piece #4 for the SWAP I'm working on and I still have another two bottoms to go. I'm seriously considering making this up in a longer version from some tropical weight wool I have. Very flattering, very fast to throw together (4 hours from pulling out the pattern to wearing it and that includes the 45 minutes of messing up the zipper three separate times - it'll be faster next time) and very wearable.

Conclusion:
What more can I say? It's a great, great pattern! Unfortunately Simplicity's website says it's out of print so Ebay or an understaffed Joann's might be your best bet for picking it up. Seriously what's with discontinuing such a great pattern? Ah, well, just means I'll have to keep up my habit of hording them at pattern sales.

Robes in progress and Bath Tea Recipe

2009-01-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent a nice afternoon working on two of three more robes that'll go up in my store soon. And since I went through an inexplicable blue period last November and STILL haven't sold off any of that stuff (what's with the blue hate, people?) I went with a round of pretty, feminine pink. 'Sides, it ties in well with Valentines day and I'm all about taking advantage of a materialistic, gift oriented holiday. And, yes, I'm a bit of an unromantic cynic. It's probably some level of a cosmic joke that DH and I first started dating on Valentine's Day - payback for my past criticisms of the day. I'll take it, I figure I won in the end. :) But on with the robes, these are the first mediums I've made and they went together without a problem. Thank goodness, I'm always a little worried that my math, mesurements, and all other precautions are all somehow off. It's happened before.

I went with a soft coral pink and white with one robe - very restful, I thought. The pink is from fabric.com (LOVE that place!) and the white is oooooold stash from Joann's finally getting used up. It has the faintest of patterns embossed on it which seems to give it some nice depth, not that you can see it from here.

This is my favorite. The body fabric is from a cute little quilting store near Austin that we stopped in on while visiting my grandparents over Thanksgiving. Sooo soft and smooth and great colors. The red velvet was a freebie from a friend getting rid of extra fabric and, while the backside isn't that great, the face is so very soft and, with the way the collar, tie, and cuffs are designed only the face side shows. Works!

I still have to press, hem, and topstitch them and clean up the threads but at least you can see what they look like! I'm proud of them.

And in honor of me actually getting those done, here's a bath tea recipe I recently concocted (thinking of adding a few of those to the shop) and am now completely in love with. It's good for aches, dry skin, clearing out sinuses, and generally feeling better about cold, cloudy days.

Winter Remedy Bath Tea

1 cup instant oatmeal
1 T ginger (dried best, powdered works, fresh adds a great zing but doesn't store so, if you use it, keep it separate and add right before putting in bath)
1 T basil
10 drops Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil (similar essential oil may be used, if you don't have any olive oil might work as a substitute. Worth trying.)

Mix together and store in airtight container. To use put ~ 1/4 cup of the mix in the center of a square of scrap fabric (unbleached, loose weave muslin is best) and tie it up securely. Throw in a newly drawn bath and enjoy! While you can just let it sit in the tub it's rather fun to "squish" it since the oatmeal gets wonderfully mushy inside the little bag.

Busy January!

2009-01-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

So while I was still recovering from a cold, this semester hit. Hard. I have some absurd number of major papers (seven? eight?) to do this semester plus trying to push my Etsy store into an actual business, business license and all. And teach sewing classes. Sigh. So much to do!

So that's my excuse for not posting. It doesn't mean I don't have lots to share, though!

Last weekend I FINALLY got around to hanging this beautiful quilt my best friends made me for my wedding:

I've been putting it off for a while, partially because it required buying the rod, hanging the rod, and hand sewing a tube to the back (er, three smaller tubes in this case) to hang it from. It was worth the effort, though, since it really makes the room look nice and lets others admire all the work my friends put into it. It also serves as a hiding spot for the cutting table that's currently out. Those black legs screw off easily and the whole thing slips behind the quilt, freeing up a LOT of room in our tiny apartment. That table also serves as my tracing table, ironing table (with protective cover) and sewing class table so it gets a lot of work. And it's still looking good! I love Ikea furniture.

Also this weekend I hit up the bit Joann's sale and look what came home with me - a whole bolt of lovely gridded interfacing! Mine for just $15, with coupon. Happy!

Now that I have nice tracing paper I took the chance to redesign my basic robe pattern. I really hope to make this my major seller in my etsy store and I have some other top-secret plans for it beyond that. For the redesign I started by blockifying the robe, basically making it out of all rectangles. The rectangle dimentions were determined by measuring my existing and (and disintegrating) pattern, made from small sheets of tissue paper taped together. It seemed like a good idea at the time. From there I started pinning and adjusting it on Elanore, my dressform. Here it is in the first steps of that:

From there I adjusted the shoulder slope and width, carved out the back neckline and armcycs, and worked out the perfect overlap for the front. Oh, and added some flare at the sides. The sleeves took a little longer since it's been years since I drafted one of those from scratch. A lot of playing around and pinning and I like it! I made up a test out of some lovely pink rose cotton I'd just gotten from Fabric.com and I really think this new pattern is a good improvement. I'm not sure it's noticable to anyone else but me, but I think the robe lies just a little nicer and swings just a little better. And this would be a great place to show the old and new side by side. Which would require taking a picture of them. Hm, must do.

That was a few days ago. Today I sized up my robe pattern so that I can finally start offering them in a size other than small. It took a while but it really wasn't that hard. I got a sample of RTW sizes from various online sources (pretty much whichever came up first when I googled "size charts clothing women") and used measurments gleaned from those to figure out how much to size up. The exact how-tos were borrowed from this utterly fantastic tutorial from Sensibility.com.

I considered talking through the process but, really, that site tells you exactly what I did with good, clear pictures to boot. Anyway, after following those easy directions I have a medium robe pattern to test out later this week!

Until then I still have a ream of reading to do and some Greek to analyze. Sigh. It never ends!

Christmas goodies

2009-01-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

I'll post pics once my camera and camera cord are in the same state (sigh). But it was a good Christmas for sewing goodies. I haven't spent much time with the in-laws so they were happy to have some hobby to latch onto for gift-giving purposes. Additionally, DH's paternal grandparents both passed away this year (very, very expected but still sad) and I was given a number of his grandmother's old sewing items. Those, of course, were extra special gifts.

Anyway, the short list of new goodies that I can't wait to play with
- Kit for a simple, beautiful purse, put together by MIL. She did a great job. :)
- Vintage McCall pattern for, of all things, a gingerbread house. Made from ginger bread. Must scan and post picture.
- Sewing scissors and thimble broach, from DH's late grandmother.
- Sew Simple magazine for Dec/Jan. Nice magazine, though I see why Threads is the more popular. Still, some great little projects in it.
- Patternmaking book from my parents. Very helpful!
- Clear ruler and collection of fabric marking pens and pencils from good friend. I'm always loosing my pens so that was extra appreciated!

Unfortunately a cold has knocked me out a bit. More time to look through the goodies but no energy to do much with them. Sigh. Lots of orange juice, chicken soup, and tea and I should be better this weekend! Just in time for classes to start up. I'll miss being on break!

Well drat

2009-01-02T14:51:00.000-08:00

So I somehow managed to delete all my blogroll links. I guess I needed to go through them anyway and add a few more, especially those from group #3 that I've missed, but I didn't want to do it today. Oh, well. That's life and computers!

Winner and quick notes

2008-12-24T01:02:00.000-08:00

And our winner is LuckyLibbet ... and I'll do the email, find addy, mail out thing soon. Now's time for sleep. Got work done on SWAP coat and bonded wonderfully with my "new" Singer 503 Rocketeer, Jane. And her buttonhole attachment. Must post pictures. Finished (sorta) my sweater tunic/mini dress though my serger did it's best to keep me from it. Seriously, can it not serge one stinkin' seam without a huge drama fest? On that note, can we got TEN MINUTES without a siren here? The traffic can NOT be that bad at three in the morning. Seriously. Oh, well, happy with new sweater top, DH totally enjoyed his presents (we opened them early due to coming travel) and I thoroughly enjoyed mine. Especially the chocolate. :) Now just wondering if I can take the Rocketeer to the in-laws via carry on.

Pattern give-away

2008-12-18T07:59:00.000-08:00

Trying to thin out my collection so I can fit what I have in my small sewing space. Just leave a comment in the comment area with your email address ("my.name AT gmail" is a good form to keep spam-bots from grabbing it) and this coming Monday I'll having a little drawing and email the winner, work out shipping info, and send out your patterns!

And I'll ship anywhere in the world - it's not hard, surprisingly inexpensive, and I really like the idea of my patterns visiting far-off exotic locals. :)

Both patterns are uncut and for sizes 6-12. Enjoy!

Laundry and dreams of big fluffy dresses

2008-12-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

Laundry day! So can't wait to have our own washer and dryer. Not such a fan of having to fight my neighbors for laundry time. Or having to continually recharge the laundry card.

But anyway, in between loads I've been working on stuff for my shop and watching youtube videos and ran across this MYSTed jem. It's a short put together by Bell Telephone featuring their booth at the 1962 World Fair. It includes an early pager, touch-pad dialing, auto dialing ... all things that so part of life today. And the dress! The teen girl is wearing a wonderfully fluffy, poofy dress that looks so very, very fun.

Since I don't have nearly enough on my sewing plate (wow, couldn't even type that with a straight face) I suddenly want to make a similar dress for my 2010 Easter dress. Never mind that I've NEVER had a special easter dress ... usually it's whatever's clean that morning. But I want a fluffy dress to sashay around in. Actually what I REALLY want to do is wear it to Disneyland since, for me, early 60 fashion and music are indelibly tied with The Mouse's original home. This is what happens when you raise your kid on old Disney specials. Just warning you parents. But we're not going to be anywhere near southern CA anytime soon (or Florida, for that matter) so church and school are second best. I guess I can wear it when working from home but I'd be afraid of mistaking the skirt for part of the fabric I'm supposed to cut.

Anyway, I've already got a great pattern to use, so no excuses for not at least dreaming a bit!

This was from a box in my friend's mom's neighbor's home ... apparently when the neighbor died I was the first person in that chain that sewed so I got a small collection of these patterns. And they're close to my size so all the better! It even came with a petticoat pattern so I can get the full fluffiness effect. :)

So what do you think? Fun post Christmas project or totally insane? Or (my person vote) a little of both? :)

Rocketeer #2 is home (temporarily)

2008-12-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

So the second Singer 503a arrived yesterday and she's just as beautiful as her sister. Fantastic shape, great packaging, and all the same fun feet with the addition of a bunch of screwdrivers. I really wish I could keep her but I can't justify it at this point with tuition fees and a tiny apartment. And I know there's many people out there without a single working sewing machine in their life so, all things considered, finding someone to adopt her seems the best course of action. So that's this weekend's tasks.

Until then, a preview of all this baby has to offer (in addition to the top tens posted earlier):

- Nine decorative stitch cams, making the stitches shown here:

- Straight stitch plate for ... well, straight stitching. They aren't very creative with these names. But it keeps fabric, especially fine fabric, from getting pulled down into the bobbin area. Very helpful.

- Drop in bobbin. Very easy to insert. This does mean it doesn't have a free arm but it does have a large, flat stitching area. In my opinion it's an even trade.

- Three are pretty standard: A "special" foot with extra clearance for satin stitches, a zipper foot, and a standard foot. There's also a rolled hem foot (very helpful) and two extra fun ones: a gathering foot and a binding foot. I can give a tutorial on using the gathering foot (which is, btw, indespensable for some home dec and most little girl's dresses) and the binding foot, if you'd like.

- Random extras - a few screwdrivers, a brush for cleaning out the machine, and ... more screwdrivers. And (not shown) a couple extra bobbins.

- Foot pedal (not shown) and a clean bill of health from the sewing repair guy.

All in all it's a very dependable and solid machine. It's all metal inside and really designed to last through just about anything. Most repairs can be done at home and parts are still readily available, just in case something happens. If it has a weakness it's in the lack of decorative stitches and buttonholes, though that second one can be fixed by purchasing a nice buttonhole attachment from ebay for less than $10, including shipping and handling. And the buttonholes that attachment makes are supposed to be absolutely gorgeous and nearly foolproof (good for me).

Heads up on patterns for sale

2008-12-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

Just a heads up - I've come to the sad realization that my pattern stash is simply too, too big. It can no longer fit into the boxes I'm storing it in, even after I added an extra two boxes. And I'm out of room for more boxes so (sigh) it's time to find some of these little ones new homes.

To that end I'm sorting. Some of those patterns in need of homes will get sold in my Etsy shop. Mostly the independents, Vogues, and any others that are just a little too valuable to justify giving away at this point in my student life. Others will go in a free pattern box for my students to pick through during classes and Friday sewing nights.

And some will go up here as free give-aways. :) Admittedly I've never done a giveaway before so if you have any tips or ideas on how to make them fun, tell me, please!

And there was rejoicing

2008-12-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

So I've been wondering for a while now what to do with Etsy. My sewing teaching job is ... well, taking off isn't the right word, but at least picking up some speed on the runway. Here's hoping this is a looooong runway or else the metaphor will turn gruesome. But anyway, with the teaching stuff keeping me moderately busy I've been seriously considering just how much time, money, and effort I want to sink into a tiny shop located in the online version of the mall of america. To continue that metaphor, I feel a bit like a kiosk stuck down a back hallway on a fairly dead wing of the mall. So for a while I've just been letting it sit. No new listings, no relistings to push things to the top, no chatting or advertising or anything else.

And, oddities of oddities, today I sold two robes. My first two robes. And I sold them. Two different people. Just a few minutes apart from each other. And (just to continue the oddities) one lives close to my hometown, the other is right near DH's hometown. Both also appear to be men buying for their wives which, IMHO, makes them very, very good husbands. :)

So this doesn't make it definitive that I'll keep up the shop but it does give me the money to sink just a bit more into stock and try out more sizes. Maybe take the time to investigate turning the basic pieces into a well written first sewing pattern. Hey, if nothing else, my sudden popularity has given me new energy for the store!

Tour of the Rocketeer

2008-12-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

Loving my new machine so much!

Haven't had a chance to sew too much on her yet, but what I've done so far has been utterly beautiful.

Things I love:

1. Two spool locations. You can perch a spool on a removable pin on top, like in the picture above. Or you can open up the top and two more pins pop up just waiting for spools. The removable pin stores neatly to the left of those two pins - you can just see it in this picture. Little details like that just make my day.

2. Adjustable presser foot. Very, very helpful. My old machine lacks this feature and believe me, I've felt that lack. Plus hidden inside that flip panel is a very clear threading diagram. Great little extra.

3. Lots of room under the presser foot. This picture taken with the presser foot dial on 0 - and see how much room there is under there? And yes, it can (just barely) sew through that large a stack of denim. Not sure how, but it can.

4. Beautiful stitch length lever. It actually twists so that the little metal "wings" clamp onto the machine, keeping the lever from moving as you stitch. Or at least that's how it works in theory. I haven't had any trouble with it slipping without the clamping so not sure how useful it is, but it's a good though. And you can do some very fine adjustments with it. To backstitch? Just move the lever up to above the fine stitching area! Very, very simple.

5. The left/right/middle needle position option. Yes, I know that most people can get through a lifetime of sewing without this option. I, however, learned on a machine with it so I've come to use it in all sorts of ways. Fantastic for edge stitching, flatfelling, and a lot of other things that I'm not remembering right now but I'm sure I've done. :) It's just one of those features I really, really like. I did discover that, when there's no cam in the machine, the stitch width lever moves the needle over to the far right so that's good if I want a bit finer adjusting as an option. Still very happy that the needle position is an option.

7. Feet! From left to right, the feet this machine came with: Binding foot (never used on of those!), zipper foot, mystery foot (i.d. anyone?). rolled hem foot, button foot, and gathering foot. I'm really looking forwards to playing with all of these (and the many others that I'm sure I'll collect over the years). Not shown is the standard zig-zag foot - it's on the machine.

8. The other little extras! Little brush, straight stitch needle plate, and needles. Ok, admittedly I'm NOT loving that this takes different needles from my other machines but those can't be TOO hard to find - after all, there's lots of people who use these older Singers, right?

9. The decorative cams. I love the idea of having a bunch of decorative stitches that you can switch in and out like disks. There's something so wonderfully tactile about it. This machine came with 9 - standard zig-zag, three step zig-zag, icicles, blind hem, arrows, jagged line, swags, sound-waves, and ribbon. And yes, those are my names for them, not the technical names. I need to get a nice sampler made with the different stitches ... I had the beginnings of one and it got thrown out in the race to clean up for company last night. Oops.

10. The sleek, sleek looks!

Some of her features I'm still adjusting to, like her drop-in bobbin (I've always had vertical before this), her lack of a free arm (but that's what the other two machines are for), and the odd foot pedal with it's heal button for speed control. So far I'm proficient at off and full speed. Getting between the two is hard with a foot that's more used to precision control with the toe-end. Oh, well, just gives me a little room to grow with this new machine!

Rocketeer: preliminary report

2008-12-04T20:58:00.001-08:00

Rocketeer #1 (code name Judy) arrived today! Beautifully packaged - actually there was enough of those staticy, get-everywhere little foam chips to make a small beanbag chair out of. And bubble wrap. DH is seriously happy.

I still have two more chapters to read in my book (due tomorrow - dratted schoolwork getting in the way of life!) before I can do the pictures thing and play with her as fully as I'd like but did test her out a little - really, how could I resist?

And, for the record, 12 layers of denim without slowing down. :) 16 (!!!) was a little much for it - every few stitches it would jam a little until coaxed along with the handwheel. The biggest problem, though, is that the stack of denim was so high the needle bar kept hitting the top. Seriously. That's the sort of stuff this machine can sew through without problems. Mental note- be extra careful about where I put fingers while sewing!

It's mine! Singer Rocketeer

2008-12-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

Mine! Mine! Mine!!

So my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Well, that's easy. A sewing machine that works consistantly, can be easily tuned here at home, makes a beautiful stitch, and has a few specific perks like an adjustable presser foot, three needle positions, and the ability to sew a beautiful buttonhole either on it's own or with an attachment.

So any of the Singer slant-o-matics (besides the straight-stitch-only ones) would make me happy. But, if I could ask Santa (or, more specifically, my mom) for just one more thing, it would be that that Singer not be any old slant-o-matic but that it'd be a Rocketeer. I like the artistry of an old black treadle-era machine, the bubbly cuteness of many modern machines, but in my book they can't hold a candle to the chic steampunkishness of the rocketeer.

So mom gave me a price limit and told me to go forth and buy my own present to make sure it was exactly what I wanted. I love my mom. :) So I bid on a machine, nearly have it, then out of nowhere another bidder emerged. Oh nos! A fierce bidding war errupted but, in the end, I lost.

*sniff*

So I turned to another machine. It had a hidden reserve price and a buy-it-now of $275. Worth it, but well above the limit I had. So I passed it by. Found another machine and bid on it. But then, on a hunch, put a lower bid on the machine with a reserve. And, amazingly enough, it was just enough! A few hours of nervous refreshing no other bidders had emerged and I now own a beautiful Singer 503 Rocketeer and a small box of cams, feet, and straight-stitch needle plate. So very, very exciting!

Pretty goodies...

The one mistake I made? Remember that I said I went over and bid on another machine before bidding on this one? Well, that action ends in four hours. And I'm still the highest bidder. For a machine I really don't need any longer.

Oops. See, this is why I don't Ebay. Stupid beginner mistake. So, say, if anyone wants a singer rocketeer can I just hint that any machine with a listing ending right around 6pm eastern time today will sell with only a very slight contest? Unfortunately my max bid is just a couple dollars higher than the current so there will be a bit of bidding ... but very little. Just, you know, in case you're interested.

Fingers crossed that another buyer will show up. But, well, not crossed too tightly. We could just barely afford the second machine (DH's christmas present to me? Mine to him?) and worst case I can always pick out the best feet, cams, and all from the two and resell the other. So we'll see.

Until then I'll be dreaming up projects for my new little wonder machine!

I'm so not a gambler

2008-12-01T10:20:00.000-08:00

I'm being forcefully reminded why I don't Ebay. Forget the fact that Ebay seems to be run by a bunch of soulless indivduals that don't mind earning their pay over the bodies of cheated sellers or that they've done very little to crack down on scams and such. No, I don't Ebay because I simply can't handle the uncertainty. I'd very happily pay more for a buy-now item just to know that I've bought it and not find myself compulsively refreshing every five minutes to see if I've been outbid when I SHOULD be working on homework. Sigh.

Oh, well. One more hour and it's over for item #1. Eight and it's over for item #2. Hopefully one will work out and I can put this whole ebayish thing behind me for a long, long while, sticking with feet being sold through buy-now and forgoing any more auctions.

One photo five ways

2008-11-28T09:55:00.000-08:00

I'm visiting family this long weekend so I have limited access to my sewing stuff ... so more photo fun! I promise, after this it's back to sewing and patterns and my dreams of a Rocketeer.

But until then, I've been having fun with photobucket's photo editor.

Here's the original photo. Nothing special, though a little cock-eyed. It's a mailbox slot at Animal Kingdom lodge that amused me enough to snap a quick picture of it and it's simple enough to really work with many of the photobucket filters.

Now here's the same picture with a Drawing filter -

Stamp filter (I like lots, personally)

Pop art - another favorite for this photo. I really want to pop-art a mickey photo but wouldn't you know it, I took over 400 pictures and not ONE of the Mouse!

And here's the hippo cartoon-ized.

So that was a fun half hour spent with the computer. I need to go through my photos and see if I have a more recognizable landmark and see what I can do with it. I THINK my mom would love some customized postcards so that's an easy yet heartfelt present. I'll get on that and share with y'all whatever I come up with. :)

Playing with Photos - Old photos

2008-11-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

So photobucket has this fun "old photo" filter that I love. I think because it blurs the photo just enough that it hides my mistakes. :) And I grew up watching Disney Channel specials about Disneyland in the 50s so Disney + old photo really makes this 80s child oddly nostalgic. Anyway, enjoy!

Fun with pictures - Black and White

2008-11-24T21:19:00.000-08:00

For my aunt's Christmas present I'm giving her a small collection of pictures from our trip to Disney World. We had a terrific time and I especially enjoyed the challenge of finding photo ops of little treasures scattered around that really make the place special. It's the care they put into the little details that really make you feel like you're in another world and that's what I tried to capture. Also I wanted to prove that WDW is a lot more than giant mice and gift stores. I think I succeeded, at least in part - I've got eight of these pictures on my living room wall and a fun game for new comers is to try and guess where the pictures were taken. Usually they think I'm some ultra-cultured world-traveler. World, yes, but only the world found in mid Florida. :) So anyway, hope you enjoy these sample pictures! I enjoyed taking them and playing with them!

PS for Mom - see any pics you like? :)

Swap Item 2 - Done!

2008-11-22T12:11:00.000-08:00

Burda WOF 02-2005-117

Finished (?) my first bottom for the SWAP - a nice denim skirt I can wear to class or out and about! The question mark is due to a couple things - first, it needs something to fasten the waistband closed. As you can see from the technical drawing, it's supposed to have ties but I think it'd clash with the belts I've been collecting. Shoes and belts are such my weakness. So I'm thinking about putting in a couple of hooks and eyes and seeing if those work nearly as well. Also I'm still considering putting in a front slit for walking room (the original intent was a kickpleat but I was tired while cutting out and SO messed that up) though I don't like front slits (a little tarty, IMHO) so unless I find the skirt binding (haven't so far) then I'll leave it alone. Also, in keeping with my epic-basics I'd intended to add some hand embroidery but I also really like it as is. So I'm letting that sit and perculate.

But until then I'm wearing the skirt and really loving it. Yay for SWAPs and new clothes!

Headbanger

2008-11-21T14:07:00.000-08:00

Looking over machines for sale and find a serger going for $20 in part because it "doesn't go in reverse."

*thud*

If only I lived close enough to adopt the machine.

All I want for Christmas ... or my need for needy machines

2008-11-21T11:59:00.000-08:00

Picture from www.singer500a.info

All I want for Christmas is a Singer 500a Rocketeer with all accessories. I dream of boxes of little cams (which, unlike my accessories for my Bernette and White ATS2000 I will NOT loose within the first month), a dozen precious little feet, and a buttonhole attachment that makes perfect buttonholes each and every time. A girl can dream, right?

So I've been scouring ebay, craigslist, and various other sites for ones to suggest to my parents as my possible Christmas present. So I've been looking. And looking.

And realizing something rather disturbing about myself. You know how some women seem to pick disfunctional guys over and over again? I'm like that with sewing machines. Inevitably I'll find a listing for a machine, fall a little bit in love with it, and momentarily ignore things like "this machine doesn't actually have a motor" or "the needle doesn't move" or, well, little things like that. I think "oh, I can fix that!" and flag the machine (which is never a Singer Rocketeer - probably the only thing that's saved me from buying them outright) as a possibility. While, yes, I do actually need a machine, I don't need one with any issues of any sort. I already have three sewing machines and one serger, each with issues. That's why I need another machine. The Bernette has bobbin case issues that I can't fix and needs a visit to the "local" dealer 45 minutes away. The Viking has motor issues that probably require a new motor despite the last repair guy saying that that particular model has such fatal flaws with the cams that I should just put her out of her misery. The Kenmore, which was aparently a lemon of a model, is out of time and takes almost a complete disassembly to fix. Which I've done. Four times. And it's still off. Same repair person said not to bother, the machine isn't worth the repair cost.

So you see why I need a new machine, one that actually works and DOESN'T come with it's own subscription of issues. So why, as I shop, am I so drawn to machines missing fairly important parts or that "only need some oil and a little work done" (i.e. they don't form a stitch and I have no idea why so someone else deal with this thing) or that need a complete and total overhaul? Why can't I fall in love with a fully functioning machine? Sigh.

Back to look at the listings. And if you know another good place to look for machines (besides local SM repair places - I'm on that) I'd love to hear!

Revising the SWAP plan

2008-11-20T13:44:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking of changing the game plan slightly from the west-coast winery theme to an epic-basics one. Or something like that. It would be focused on making up eleven basics but each with a twist or new technique or something else to take them from just a general tee to something a little special. With the first piece, that tee, it's both a slightly nicer, more fitted tee than your normal Hanes version and it was my first repurposed garment. Anyway, it's a thought.

Right now I'm working on piece #2, a denim skirt. It LOOKS like a really easy design but the trick here is that it's my first Burda WOF pattern. And it's in German.

I don't even know how to ask for directions to the bathroom in German.

Babelfish is really no help. The last instructions I got were to, and I quote, "Federation: at the federal parts the side seams quilt outside federation to the upper skirt edge quilt." I'm thinking federation has something to do with the waistband but I'm so not sure. Though I guess it makes sense ... Waistband: at the waist parts sew the side seams, sew outside waistband to the upper skirt edge. Which would be better if I hadn't already figured out I need to do that. Sigh.

So this basic skirt is not-so basic in that aspect, especially since it has a neat front zipper detail that I've never done before. So we'll see how it works out. At least I got the pattern fitted and partially figured out with a muslin last week. So we'll see how this attempt goes!

SWAP Item 1 - DONE!

2008-11-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

(me at 12:30 at night after camera difficulties. Really need better pic)

And there was much rejoicing.

So my first SWAP item, a t-shirt, wasn't exactly in my original plan. But as the idea is to sew for a week in your life and I've discovered I love a nice, fitted, tee, it made sense to incorporate one in. Then, on Sunday, I gave blood and as a thanks I got a small bottle of gatorade and a one-size-fits-none XXL t-shirt ... well, it seemed like a good time to pull Vogue 2925 out of storage and finally test out that nice shirt pattern. After all, the donor shirt was actually quite nice, black with a surprisingly non-ugly logo on it, and since it was free it made for a good test.

And it worked!

The pattern is absolutely fab, insanely quick to put together and seriously flattering. It's two pieces with four lines of gathering and I kinda cheated and put in just one line of gathering stitches at each. The less than perfect gathering really seems to fit with the slightly-off-kilter logo printed on the front. I basted the side seams together to make the next step easier, then serged those same seams. My two machines are right next to each other and already kitted in black thread so the extra step took hardly any time at all. I then fitted my sewing machine with the double needle and an extra spool of black thread and used that for the neckline, armcycs, and hem. They totally look like coverstitch hems for the price of a double needle. Heart! The armcyc was a bit hard to do this way, especially with the underarm seam. It's a lot higher and tighter than expected, probably because I couldn't do the however-big hem they wanted on it. Note for next time: cut out 1/2" deeper armcyc. Fortunately fabric rubbing off my deoderant doesn't bother me all that much but I know many people absolutely hate it so FYI.

Oh, I cut a size 10 whilst being a 14 in Vogue sizing. I like things more fitted and, since I bought the 6-8-10 sized pattern, it was the largest option I had. It's exactly as fitted as I wanted it to be (what're the chances? No complaint, though), just about form fitting but not at all binding. Just like you want an all-purpose t to be. Or I like an all-purpose t to be ... I guess I'm not all people. But there it is, a new life for a huge t-shirt! And a new shirt for me! Today, after some work, I want to get my denim skirt cut out to go with this shirt. We'll see how that goes, for now I'm just very happy to have gotten the first of the 12 items done!

Belated rejoicing

2008-11-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

So this is a bit overdue but thought I'd share my happiness at how well both my intro to sewing class and my free-style sewing nights are going.

Last intro class we worked on making seams and figuring out where the seam guides were on the machine plates. In a previous class with a couple careful crafters this one bit took most of the time. This time, with more experienced and adventurous students that took up ... five minutes. Maybe less. Fortunately that left extra time for picking fabrics for the little bags we made, reviewing pin safety and working with machine quirks (like thread-eating at the beginning of seams - greedy machine!), and even sewing a basic machine hem. And we had a lot of fun doing it! I love making little cloth bags since they're SO easy and yet look so posh and impressive. Students seem to love them just as much so it's a great second-class project. Build confidence, build skills!

Also last Friday I opened my apartment for what I'm calling a "Free Style Friday Sewing Night" (better name when one shows up) where, in theory, anyone who wants to come over and sew or embroider or knit or crochet or anything else fiber related can. I set up a cutting table, put out snacks, and part way through have a little demo or whatnot. At least that's the theory. The first night I had two experienced seamstresses who wanted to cut, sew, and chat and we wound up skipping the demo. That turned out to be for the best because THIS time I had two utter newbies who didn't really have anything to work on and so I pulled out the demo and showed them how to form the two most basic embroidery stitches, running and back stitch, to make embroidered coasters.

It was fabulous.

Attendee #1 is a tween who lives in the building and is in the difficult position of being the oldest kid in the building and sharing a bedroom and tiny apartment with two younger sisters. She's a fantastic young lady and I hope giving her individual time and a skill all her own helps her during what can't be a very fun period of life. I'm probably projecting since at that age we moved to a one-bedroom apartment and I shared a living room with my brother. Who was going through a Barney phase. I had the space under the side table as "my" room. I think I'm still traumatized. So, while trying to not shove all my childhood PTSD on her I do really enjoy the chance to spend time with her and give her a quieter place to spend some time. She'll be taking sewing lessons soon so expect to hear more! She sewed a very good first-time snowflake and the next day dropped by to show me her two newest creations. I wish I'd gotten pictures because she's got some serious talent.

The other drop-by had just come from Joann's to get material to make a pillow for her grandmother and wanted to embroider a monogram. Great timing! She's so encouraging, after I showed her the steps and she practiced for a bit she did a sample letter and was just so excited that it just made the whole night feel like a success. I saw her husband today and apparently she's telling everyone about her new l33t skillz and how they've changed her life. I didn't realize embroidery was so powerful but, hey, not going to argue! So it's been a good, warm-fuzzy time in the sewing studio. And smelly. I made up some aromatherapy heat bags yesterday and I think I overdid it on the essential oil. I just added 10 drops to the bag of rice, just like some suggestion somewhere said ... or so I thought. I think I'll go with two, maybe three drops next time. Until then, anyone have any tips on de-scenting some already sewn up bags? :)

I'm a member of Sew Craft Group #3

2008-11-14T12:13:00.001-08:00

I feel like I just started girl scouts or something. :)

Shanon over at shanonsews.blogspot.com mentioned this new blog group named Sew Craft Blog that was creating little subgroups of bloggers and it sounded like fun so I joined. Because, really, you can't have too many crafting friends! I made it into group #3 which is, by the way, still forming so if this sounds like the group for you then, hey, jump on in!

And more coming later... I'm so behind on -
- Review of BWOF skirt muslin
- Review of the parts for my Halloween costume
- Pics of some more stuff I've made for my little shop (hey, I'm proud of them!)
- Squees of delight over how well my intro to sewing class and free style sewing nights have been going

Fortunately next week my schedule's really light so hopefully I'll get caught up!

Listening to fabric

2008-11-11T14:56:00.001-08:00

For creative writing I did a poem on the rhythm of embroidery (full text below - warning, very rough draft) and got back the comment that I was very good at "listening to the fabric."

No kidding.

Listening to fabric ain't the problem for me.

Walking into a fabric store is like walking into a frickin' bazaar with each piece calling out, promising great things, telling me all of its hopes and dreams and just about pulling out patterns it wants to be. Look at me! I'm the skirt you've always wanted, I'm that perfect shirt, I'm a red-carpet dress just waiting for your magic touch! Don't leave without me!

And my stash? Forget a bazaar, these fabrics, now home, turn into a chorus of third-world orphans with big pleading eyes and hands outstretched. Each one crying for me to give them some love and attention. I shift them around and even throw the occasional pattern their way to give them hope and shut them up but the next day they're at it again. And then, when I give in and start cutting the cry turns into complaints. Why THIS pattern? Won't you regret not saving me for a better one? Are you sure about the placement? Is everything on grain? You know, if you spent more time you could waste less fabric, maybe get another skirt out of me. Or a pillow. I'm really a pillow. No, what are you doing, don't cut, you haven't tested out that pattern yet! Yes, I know you're using me as a wearable muslin but why me? Why not THAT fabric? What if I'm not wearable? Guilt! Guilt!

Sigh.

I don't have any trouble listening to fabric. It's NOT listening that's so darn hard.

------
Poem, based on (I kid you not) a wrought iron elevator door at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Rhythms on Fabric

In, out
Cross a stitch
Skip a beat
Pull tight, loop
Repeat
Cross again
Running stitch
Thread a bead
Repeat

Repeat

Black thread slipping
Silver needle weaving
raised shadows creeping on the
flat cotton moss

In, out
cross a stitch

Pattern growing spreading
Counted web catching
Shining beads, blackbirds eyes

Skip a beat,
Pull tight, loop
Repeat

Bass notes blending
Sax squares brightening
Thin trumpet threads and
thick drum beads

Cross again
Running stitch

Winter branches reaching
Spring's first morning
Skeletal leaves catching
Last crystal snowflakes
Melt, blend

Thread a bead
Repeat
Repeat.

Weave the thread
Pull tight
Lift and

Snip!

Pattern formed
Full, finished
Spread like sketch work
On its canvas
Fingers trace
The silent beat
And set aside
For tomorrow's dance.

In search of a pot...

2008-11-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

I love the idea of a windowsill herb garden, with fresh basil, lavender, and thyme spilling out, ready to pick and use. Unfortunately a windowsill herb garden does not love me. I'll admit I really know nothing about gardening - my mom's idea of gardening was to stick something in the ground and then ignore it. It works. Her garden, once you separate the plants from the weeds, always has enough to feed the neighborhood. My dad's idea of gardening is to call in the professionals and then, when they're gone, go after the plants with a pair of dull, rusty hedge trimmers. This does not work. Go figure.

So, yeah, meticulous gardening is not in my genes. But I keep trying. A couple years ago I tried mom's technique. I bought a window box, dirt, and two lavenders and a basil plant. Within a week my lavender was attempting suicide and my basil had a new colony of spider mites, which are, apparently, designed to withstand a direct nuclear attack. Nothing kills them. Every gardening site I looked at said to just hose down the plant with a high-power spray of water on a regular basis to knock off the mites and encourage them to find something else to munch. Right. Lots of high-powered hoses in this apartment. I could drag the window box to my shower but not sure that's quite the same.

So finally gave up and put my aloe plants (which, being cacti, were actually surviving my black thumb, though they've morphed into the strangest looking aloe plants I've ever seen) in the window box, along with a random green plant that I was sold after I walked into a gardening center and asked for a plant I couldn't kill. It came close to death once but survived. Fingers crossed.

This Saturday I was at Central Market and they had a display of beautiful 4" herbs for just $2.50 each. Now how can I pass that up? They called out to me, promising that this time, THIS TIME, they'd actually grow and flourish. And I hadn't had my morning coffee yet so I believed them. Two lavenders, one rosemary, and one basil later, I left, with grand plans of replanting them in my window box.

One problem. Remember that "cannot be killed" green plant and two aloes? They already had claim to the window box.

No problem, I'll just replant them in new pots. Really, the aloe were needing a larger pot anyway and the random green plant needs a shadier spot. So I could just swing by target and pick up a couple of those cheap plastic pots. No problem. No problem at all.

Until I went to target.

Did you know that, on November 1st, a full eighth of the store becomes Tacky Christmas Wonderland? I didn't. And did you know that TCW is put right in the place the gardening section used to be? Nope, me neither. So I was faced with a sea of shiny green glitter and not a single pot in sight. Maybe they moved them one aisle over? Nope, old halloween stuff. Maybe the other way? Four aisles of pampered pets stuff, twelve of pampered child stuff, nothing for the would-be-pampered plants. Maybe home repair? Nope. Nada. Sporting goods? Uh uh. Home dec? Sorry. Candles and fake plants section? Not a chance.

I wandered ALL OVER that stupid store with ice cream melting in my car without spotting a single pot. I even considered a little trash can but even those were too big. Arg!

So I'm stuck. I transfered my aloes over to an old dishwasher detergent container but the random green plant has no place to go. This evening I'll drop DH off at church and run up to Home Depot and THEY should have SOMETHING for my poor plant. But seriously now. This is a major, heavily populated urban area. You'd think that I could get a pot without driving 20 minutes. Oh well, it's worth it in the end if my little lavenders blossom and light up the room.

You hear that little lavenders? See what I go through for you?

Oh, gotta go. One's trying to die already. Sigh.

What do I have here?

2008-11-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

I made up a few therapy bags today and was left with a number of scraps. What to do with all these little pieces? Well, make something. So I pieced and sewed the larger scraps and sliced up the smaller ones to use as stuffing and, well, this is what came out -

Just one question - what IS it?

It's 3" square, soft, and tightly stuffed. Maybe a pincushion? A small pincushion. Or, with the addition of a ribbon, an ornament. Or a pillow for Barbie. A few drops of essential oil and it's a sachet ... maybe.

Any other ideas what I have here?

Vampire Hunter Costume - Finished!

2008-11-01T11:30:00.001-07:00

With some frantic last minute sewing, my vampire hunter costume got finished right on time.

Die, undead thing!

My armament - silver bullets, wooden stakes (on sash, green), little knife just in case, gun, and (not shown) night vision binoculars.

Silver edged sword and holy water squirt bottle.

Put it all together and you have one well-armed vampire hunter. :) Review for individual pieces coming, just wanted to show off the whole. And yes, I won the costume contest. :)

And a Very Good Time Was Had By All

2008-11-01T01:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Love!

More tomorrow, I'm tired!

A quick thanks to my mom

2008-10-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

Without getting into it, I'm a little tired of hearing people tell me how much I apparently want kids. My poor repressed subconcious must be absolutely dying without a little squishy baby around but I, of course, am too callous and insensitive to hear this so others must be picking up on that vibration. Sigh. Ok, yes, we probably wouldn't mess up the kid too badly. We might even be good parents. I think you'd be a great doggie parent. Your point? Are we so low on people in this world that we need another?

I try to take it as a compliment, I really do. It beats people saying "by all that's holy, no kids, promise me!!" But... yeah. It seems like every conversation with the in-laws contains "when you have kids" ... not if. When. Because kids happen.

Good friends are mixed - some (surprisingly, mostly parents) are fine it and don't get why it would ever be an issue. Others have professed neutrality but then either ask excitedly about babies or, in the case of one, go on a lecture about how kids are special gifts designed to bring us to full maturity and selflessness. Ok, yes, they can teach you that but lots of things can. The vast majority of canonized saints, even those noted for their selflessness, were childless. Name notable mature, selfless people and notice that many of them don't have kids. And for heavens sakes, don't put yourself up on some romantic pedestal just because you want them. Admit that you like the idea of a cute, crazy little kid in your life and enjoy it. No shame in that. Kids are wonderful and challenging and a massive, massive responsibility. And?

So anyway, this goes out to my mom who's never, ever pressured me about this. Who has said that while she wouldn't mind trying on the grandma hat, actually prefers grandmothering the little 5-year-olds at her school. Who thinks I'm a great person no matter what I'm doing and is super-supportive whether I decide to have kids or not. Who's actually joined in on the "what's the big deal" rant with me and confessed that if she hears one more of her friends get stuck on the topic of grandkids she's going to ram the photo album down their throat. Or pull out her album of 30 little kindergardeners and start going on about each and every one. I've got a great mom. :)

And, in fairness, my little brother finally came around to the realization my morality is not tied in with my childbearing and has, since, decided that I get to be "that" aunt. The cool one that his kids get shipped off to for vacations, the one that gives crazy gifts and takes them to museums and Disney World and makes them stand up a little straighter. Works for me, I believe every kid needs one of those relatives in their lives. Besides, he's my little brother, if he hadn't realized that I'm in full rights to brain him. :-D

My not-so-little brother. But I can still beat him up.

Vampire hunter costume - update 2

2008-10-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

Nearly done!

Still need to hem the skirt and slip, take out the zipper in the right side and just make it a high slit (good idea but the fabric's just too light and the zipper's messing up the lines), and sew on the buckles for the corset. Also add a few dangling straps to hook on various accessories like garlic, holy water squirt gun, flashlight, silver knife, powdered wolfsbane (well, powdered something since real wolfsbane is poisonous and powdered random tree leaves are cheaper), another knife on a garter, and whatever else one uses to kill a vampire and any other baddies one might run across.

Also need to see where we can get a toy crossbow - I really, really want one. It'd just be such a great extra for the costume and, well, fun to play with. DH's parents were going to send his old "toy" one but it's actually a real one made for squirrel hunting. Not what I want to be playing with in a crowded party.

Fabulous boots from Target. Heart!

Showing off the overall line. And, yes, that's an unhemmed skirt that bothers me each time I look at the pic. Sigh. In other news, this is the first time I've used eyeliner to outline all of my eye, rather than just a thin line on the top lid. I kinda like it. Very dramatic.

Buckles! I feel so steampunk-y.

First Free-Style Friday sewing group!

2008-10-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

We had our first bi-weekly Friday sewing group tonight and I think it was a success! Four sew-ers total, including myself, though I know others who wanted to come but had prior commitments. So it's a growing group. My little living room holds four machines, one cutting table, one ironing board, and two hand-sew-ers on the couch before feeling overly cramped so hopefully this'll work for us for a while. If we grow beyond that I might actually have to clean up the office/sewing room to make more space. And that's a scary, scary thought.

But back to tonight, it was really great to have time to just sit and craft without worrying about homework or housework or other things I "should" be doing. The others felt the same - especially the one with a two year old! She managed to get a baby blanket cut out, pinned up, and sewn up in the time here. Another got a baby hat partially knitted, another worked on a small ... something ... and I got my vampire hunter skirt cut out and I'm still sewing up the darts. Unfortunately I marked the darts on the wrong side so it's slow going. I really need to put it down for the night as I'm just plain beat. But it's a good beat after a good day with good sewing friends! :)

In the Dallas area? Comment and I can give you info about the next Friday Free Style sewing get-together!

Twittering

2008-10-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

So I decided to take the leap and try out Twitter. Other sellers on Etsy swear by it ... what they don't say is how to move from talking to yourself in little sound bytes to actually getting followers and sales. Apparently followers magically appear. Hm.

Maybe if I put out twitter entries for the cleaning fairies ....

Nah.

Anyway, just in case this magical gathering of fans beings with a blog, my new twitter is http://twitter.com/cherrylime. And yes, it's mostly about my little shop so if you don't want to be marketed at then stay here and I'll try to be good and not let my two sewing lives (self and shop) bleed into each other too much. Will you mind if I do just a bit of showing off here, though? There's parts of my sewing shop life that're just more fun to share with other seamstresses than with potential buyers.

Off to do homework so I can justify sewing all day tomorrow..

Oh, and maybe cut out some felt for the first Free-Style Sewing Night I'm hosting on Friday. Partway through the evening I'm giving a demo on hand-embroidering little coasters and right now most of my would-be coasters are still one large piece of felt.

Vampire hunter skirt (In Progress)

2008-10-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

Pattern used: McCall's 5590

The lining done! Er, nearly - I don't want to hem it until it's in place. That's why it's uneven with the front panel 1" longer than the back. But besides that, doing a fitting muslin really paid off - the fit is PERFECT! And, I think, very, very flattering.

I used a heavier lining-weight poly I had in my stash from who knows where. I'll add sew-in boning to the sides to ensure it stays up. Hopefully tonight or, at the latest, Wednesday, I can get the fashion fabric cut out and start sewing it up. Like any basic skirt pattern, this is a breeze to put together. I did increase the work by dividing out the given two back darts into four. I have a sway back and that always means a lot of fabric to dart in.

The actual skirt will have a zipper-slit on the side and so you can see the lining's matching slit. The zipper slit won't be quite that high. At least, I don't think it will. :) I found a 22" invisible zipper in my stash so we'll see how racy it can be!

Visions of Grace - aka, my new tunic pattern

2008-10-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

Introducing the Grace Tunic!

The last picture is my friend MT modeling. She's a size 10 with a great figure and the Grace Tunic fits her better than it does me. I think it's the fabric, because in a knit with less stretch the pattern fits me perfectly. I'll have to do some tweaking because I WANT one of these for myself! It's terrifically comfortable, perfect for Dallas fall days. Plus it's great as maternity or nursing wear without (hopefully) feeling like maternity. I'll be putting this up for sale on my etsy shop soon, for now I'm content just showing it off. :)

I'm also in the very first steps of thinking about possibly maybe if it's possible making and selling this and the brianna cardigan wrap as patterns. Maybe. It's probably too expensive and then there's copyright stuff [by which I mean GETTING a copyright, not infringing on someone else's - that's bad] ... but is it worth looking into? Maybe? Maybe not?

SWAP Thoughts I - The Plan (duh duh DUH!)

2008-10-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

This year I'm in a very good position to actually participate in Sewing Guild's SWAP- what with sewing as a business and teaching sewing classes my machines are far more accessible than they've ever been before and I finally have a nice cutting table. Also sewing consistently has really helped me as a seamstress - I'm becoming better at eyeballing things, sewing quickly, serging, and even just cutting out. Additionally I should have the time, what with Christmas and winter break.

On top of that, my closet's hitting a point where I either need to spend time sewing or spend time shopping. Sewing is far more fun.

I don't have a 100% set plan yet, though I spent a good part of last night drawing and cutting out paper-doll clothes to figure out good shapes and I'm feeling fairly good about what I have. For whatever reason I find I'm drawn to empire waist tops with narrow bottoms. Paper-doll time convinced me that this is not a good look for me unless I like the baby-bump look. And while that's a recent trend, it's not one I really want to deal with right now, not here where everyone around us are testing just how many small kids can squeeze into a two-bedroom apartment. Current record holder was, I think, four with a fifth on the way. Yeow.

Anyway, no baby-bump clothing. Narrow tops. Narrow tops are good.

So figured that much out.

Beyond that I'm still playing around. One SWAPer brilliantly divided her weekly life into percentages and built her SWAP around that.

So what's my life look like?

Charted it out by dividing each day into thirds - Morning, Afternoon, and Evening.

I spend...
40% of my waking life at home either doing homework or working (building inventory, mending, or teaching classes).
35% of my waking life in class or the library
10% of my waking life at church (though 5% of that time is evening service so less formal)
10% of my waking life out and about, ranging from date night (what are those again? we need to get back in that habit) to shopping.
5% of my time working out (ok, that's a bit generous - but I'm an optimist).

Worked out that means I need ...
40% Business Casual (A)
45% Nice Casual (for design studio time, evening service, and errands) (B)
5% Sunday Morning Nice (C)
5% Date-worthy (D)
5% Work-out wear (E)

Right now I'm seeing that working out as...

- Pair of brown corduroy pants (A, B)
- Corduroy skirt (A, B, C, D)
- Yoga pants (B, E)
- Black (brown?) jumper (A, B, C, D)

- Scoop neck knit shirt (A, B, E)
- Cowl-neck sweater (A, B, C)
- Button-up blouse (A, B, C)
- Big shirt, tunic length (A, B, C)
- Pretty camisole (B, C, others when mixed with wrap
- Brianna tunic/wrap (can stand alone as top when wrapped) (B, C, D)

- Fun mid-weight coat (A, B, C, D, maybe E though I don't work out outside)

Playing with all the different combos, minus coat, that works out to pretty close to the right percentages. Yay!

Now to start looking for colors. I love the idea of Winery colors and have around here somewhere a great little collection of paint chips just the right shades. Somewhere. Sigh. Until then, think dark browns, blacks, berry red, wine purple, and olive greens with some California Blue skies. That's the broad idea, I'll narrow as I find the fabric. :)

A few of the pieces that didn't make the cut -

New Items for my Etsy Shop!

2008-10-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

More pretties! I also made a new sewing friend while riding the elevator down to take pictures - carrying a dressform is apparently a giveaway that you know your way around fabric.

Cherry Lime Studios

I've been Treasured!

2008-10-16T11:16:00.001-07:00

A huge thanks to reVision Designs for adding my coasters to her absolutely lovely Treasury!

Exorcist Costume

2008-10-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

We all have heros. Some people admire those who work for world peace, like Gandi. Others idolize a particular sports hero who worked hard and overcame all odds to win. There's others who look up to a great scientist, artist, or religious figure.

My husband? He idolizes the Ghostbusters.

Yes, those Ghostbusters. Proton packs, grey jumpsuits, hearse-like car - those guys.

And now he's training for the priesthood. In a denomination where "Exorcist" is an actual position.

I'm going to be visiting a lot of strange places and people in my married life.

Good thing I have a psych background. It's hard to find people much weirder than psych profs. So I'm slightly prepared. Maybe.

Anyway, so with a Halloween Party theme like "Monster Slayer," DH is, of course, going to be some sort of exorcist/ghost hunter. And since he already has most everything he needs for exorcist... well, it was an easy choice.

Does it say anything about the friends we keep that he's going to be one of like five exorcists at the party? Sigh.

Anyway, he had the clothes and he had the props (rosary, crucifix with imbedded holy items, holy oil, holy water, prayer book) but he didn't have any sort of case to carry them in. He's been wanting something for a while but those things are expensive, especially when you want custom-cut foam to hold the items. Or so he thought. Of course, he married someone who believes nothing is too hard to DIYODS (do it your own damn self - thank you Craftster).

I found an old cassette tape carrier in the closet and pulled my collection of history lecture tapes out of it (hey, I might listen to them someday!). It was a particularly ugly light brown faux leather passed down from my grandfather. I think he got it back in the 70s for his collection of Baptist sermon tapes. I hope he's not doing any grave-rolling, I really love my grandpa. DH got some black fabric paint and went to work redoing the outside. I think it turned out quite nice.

It's actually looking nicer now since DH cleaned off the paint that got on the silver trim.

To get the inside ready, DH got foam from Michaels and, using a little saw, carved out shapes for the various items. I wasn't watching so I'm not sure how he did it but it was messy. I'm still finding little bits of foam in corners of the living room. With the foam cut I raided my stash to find some good lining. A dress I attempted to make at the beginning of my sewing career came in handy here. That was back when I hadn't quite figured out RTW size isn't sewing size. Yeah. So the pieces of black satin got shoved in a plastic bag until I found a use for them. Like, say, lining an exorcist kit.

I seriously wouldn't have foreseen that.

But it worked! Dh glued and pinned the lining into place and, voila, an exorcist kit for the price of the foam!
And I just realized these pictures are all from before he lined the bottom part and finished the detail painting. Just imagine, please.

Red velvet shirt - how to

2008-10-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

So ... how'd that red velvet shirt come together? It was easier than it looked. The original plan was for a tunic style woven shirt but then DH found this great panne velvet and it was too perfect. So new plan. Found this (moderately NSFW) drawing and really liked the neckline. Unfortunately none of my patterns quite fit the bill. So time to frankenpatten!

Pulled out these two patterns. The first is a knit pattern and has the body, rounded bottom of the neckline I want, and the sleeves. The second has the high neck bit. Unfortunately it's a woven, too narrow in the front (an outfit like this needs to show skin!) and has darts at the neckline. Darts, knits, and me don't mix.

Here you can see how I traced out the back. The top quarter is a tracing of the coat pattern, the rest is the knit shirt. To match up the two patterns I used the shoulder line and back center to line everything up. I pinched out the dart (it's the line down the back at a 45* angle) and raised the neckline to compensate. It was a lot of trial and error and hanging up on the dressform to get it roughly right. Good thing is it doesn't have to be perfect. Lesson learned from days working backstage - it just has to look right. It doesn't have to BE right. Sometimes those two things are actually contradictory. That's life.

Here's the front. Again, top bit is the jacket pattern, bottom is the knit shirt. And again the center line and shoulder line were very helpful in merging the two patterns. The mandarin collar came forwards too much so I measured out just where I wanted to to be and then started drawing. I really liked how it looked so plopped it down on the red velvet and started cutting! I had plenty of extra fabric (at $2.50 a yard, it was worth getting extra!) so no reason to not go forwards with it.

A closer look at how I pinched out the front dart and increased the angle of the high neck bit. In retrospect I really need to remember about seamlines - I just drew where I wanted the finished line to be rather than 3/8" (my favorite serger seam) away. Oh well. It worked out in the end.

I sewed up the body of the red velvet, then cut up and sewed it up again in a heavy black knit. Serged the necklines together. Flipped the lining inside. Serged in the sleeves (in the round - ick) which also secured the lining. Right now I'm leaving the hems raw but I might serge them together along the bottom. We'll see.

Anyway, there's the making of one vampire hunter shirt!

Vampire hunter costume part 1b

2008-10-12T23:35:00.000-07:00

It just occurred to me that I should give you pictures and an explanation about that shirt pattern since it's certainly different and was fun to figure out. I'll do that first thing tomorrow.

Until then, a question that's keeping me stalled for the skirt - front slit or side?

See, I want a straight, high waist skirt for the costume on the theory that my "athletic" thighs, larger bum, and small waist present a pants fitting triathlon that's simply not in this month's to-do list. So skirt it is. And what's sexier than a pencil skirt? A high waisted pencil skirt!* And what's sexier than a high-waist pencil skirt? A high waist pencil skirt with a thigh-high zipper slit!

At least that's the theory. But now I'm stuck on just where the slit should be. I first thought of putting it in the front left princess seam but that would require adding that seam to the basic skirt garment. I don't mind drafting a new seam (heck, it'd hardly be my garment if I didn't do SOME new seams), it's the look. I tend to look broader in skirts with two front seams. But then the skirt I'm wearing right now has princess seams and it looks fine ... but it's the exception. And who's to say this new skirt will be another exception? Maybe it'll ruin the whole look. Nooooo!

So side zipper? Think that would work? Would it be too inconspicuous? Would the skirt look too office-worthy? Would the slit on just the one side throw off the skirt balance?

So many questions!!! And I'm so horrid with visualizing these things. I really need to find some fabric for a test garment but my tiny stash hasn't yielded up any volunteers. Sigh. I might just have to guess and go. Any ideas?

* Though, in truth, the high waist is mostly to keep the lines clean since it'll be hidden under the corset. But I'll FEEL sexy and that's what matters.

Vampire slayer: in progress

2008-10-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

My vampire slayer costume is coming together fairly nicely. I spent most of yesterday tracing, cutting, and sewing (and making a huge, huge mess) and it's starting to look like a real outfit.

The shirt is some basic butterick knit shirt pattern with that fun semi-mandarin collar drafted on. It's Joann's fabulous panne velvet which remains one of my favorite fabrics for costumes. It looks so much richer than it really is and it's fantastic to sew with. Since panne velvet is pretty drapey, I underlined it with a nice workout wear weight black knit, bought years ago at Golden D'or. The collar still doesn't stand up like I want it to so I need to experiment with some interfacing. More excuses to play with fabric!

The overvest is from Simplicity 3618 and a flat measuring of the tissue pieces showed me that Simplicity, as per usual, decided the pattern needed four or five inches of ease. Because a corset is all about being loose and unsupportive. Sigh. I cut out size 6 for the back and 8 for the front and it looks just about right. I need to finish feather-stitching the seams (my machine started giving me trouble at 10 last night so I took that as a cue to put things down for the evening) and then I can sew on the lining and figure out what I want to do for the closures. The pattern calls for lacing but putting grommets in this heavy of fabric seems like a special form of torture. I was thinking about getting some buckles, ala Anna from Van Helsing. I'm a little worried about the fit of those straps. They seem alright on me but it's not exactly easy to check the fit on oneself without seams or closures and no way to pin the garment without leaving holes. Oh well. Worst case my seamripper will get a good workout.

So anyway, finishing up the corset is this afternoon's and tomorrow's task and then it's on to the pencil skirt! I'm dragging my feet on that because the fabric I'm using is just so lovely and irreplaceable that I'm having trouble cutting into it. Yes, the skirt will be wearable in my daily life and yes, I've made sure the pattern is as perfect as possible, but it's still hard to commit. Sigh.

Halloween Coasters!

2008-10-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

Today I spent the morning embroidering these fun little coasters for my etsy shop.

They're orange thread on a dark gray felt and were a lot of fun to make, though now I wish I had a thimble. My needle-pushing finger is sore! Still, I enjoy the tactileness of hand embroidery and really enjoyed whipping these up. Since it's a little late to sell many more of these this October, I'll probably pack away the patterns and start working on some winter themes. Maybe snowflakes, an advent series, and some Christmas ones? Hm.

I nearly finished another robe but it's waiting until I get the last few threads clipped for it's photo shoot. Two other robes are just a few little details away from being ready as well so expect my inventory to increase this weekend!

Until then, more pictures of my halloween coasters -

And yes, I plan on taking better pictures tomorrow, after a trip to the store for AA batteries. This camera is such a glutton!

And, just in case: Click here to buy!