Cotton Creek Sewing

Lotus Tunic Pattern Review - Take 2

2011-09-15T20:04:00.002-04:00

I love this pattern so much, I made it again! I saw the fabric in a LQS last Friday, bought it, and got in finished in time to wear to work today (Thursday) as it was a "jeans" day at work - you could wear jeans if you donated a dollar to the American Heart Association. Here's a better photo:

The fabric is from the Gipsy Glitter Collection from Art Gallery Fabrics, and it is more of a poplin cotton than the quilting cotton I used to make my first one. Thus, it wrinkles a bit more easily. This is what it looked like after a four hour meeting:

I really love this version; I think the fabric is in keeping with Amy Butler's design, even though it isn't one of her fabrics. The only alteration I made was to take a tiny sliver out of the front neckline pattern piece to eliminate any hit of gaposis:

This is one of those happy projects where the garment ends up looking exactly as I imagined it when I saw the fabric. So yay!

Have a happy, sewing weekend, y'all.

Lotus Tunic Pattern Review

2011-09-07T20:23:00.007-04:00

I love this pattern! After making three tunics from Amy Butler's Liverpool Tunic last year, I decided to try the Lotus Tunic pattern. Now that I know that my bust is 36 inches instead of 34, I made the medium, instead of size small. I did use 5/8 inch seam allowances on the sides of the tunic, rather than the 1/2 inch the pattern called for because I knew it was going to be a bit loose on me, especially through the waist and hips. (It fits great in the bust.) VickiW took my photo wearing it with jeans: If you click on the photo, you can see where I added mismatched buttons in the corners of the neckline. The reason is no secret: it's to hide my less than perfect sewing in those corners. I didn't have two buttons that matched, so I picked these two from my stash and pronounced the look "quirky" instead of "little house on the prairie". Here's the back:

I ditched the belt loops and belt that the pattern called for and used the back ties that came with the Liverpool Tunic instead. I sewed them into the side seams just like the Liverpool Tunic as well. Be forewarned: the waist markings on the Lotus Tunic are low - I positioned the back ties just above the waist mark and they hit right were they should. Also, the original pattern calls for this tunic to be lined. I cut out muslin for a lining, but as I was making it I really didn't see the need with this substantial cotton. Also, no one needs that extra layer of fabric during one of our southern summers, so I left the lining out.

I originally planned to make it with sleeves but as I was making it, the sleeve construction seemed a bit fiddly, and there seemed to be a mark missing on the pattern indicating where one was to stop gathering the sleeve cap. I didn't need that stress in my life, so I left it sleeveless. I figure I'll just wear a long sleeve knit top underneath when winter arrives anyway.

Also, you can see that this tunic seems a bit long. I believe a Tunic should hit about mid thigh; this garment is really dress length:

I wore it as a dress to a casual wedding I went to the day I finished it. The wedding was at our town's minor league baseball field before the game started!

All and all, I really love it and want to make another for fall. I can't believe I was so anti-tunic a couple of years ago . . .

Parting Shot: A photo of the baseball wedding. The bride is flanked by her two daughters, and the groom is in the lavender shirt - they got married on the pitcher's mound. It was surprisingly touching!

Not My Worst Mistake

2011-07-11T22:02:00.002-04:00

This past spring I tried an experiment of fusing interfacing to silk charmuese. It turned out well enough that I bought enough silk to add the gathered skirt to the fused bodice for a potential cocktail dress. Here's the skirt attached to the bodice, none to expertly:

It was okay. I wasn't thrilled, but it turned out okay. I really don't like gathering - it never seems to go well with me. This skirt is really poofy, with a whole lot of fabric, and it was a huge PITA to get all that skirt on that bodice. I managed. But then I got cocky: I used my serger to finish the waist seam.

So of course for the very first time ever, because I was using an incredibly expensive fabric, I ran my garment fabric in the bodice into the serger blade. Arrgghhh! There was a small triangular cut in the bodice, but I was not to be deterred. I figured a little fusible interfacing might hold the tear together enough and maybe I could cover it with a sash or some other imaginative fix. But when I went to apply the fusible interfacing, my iron was still heating up. So it was on super-heat, trying to achieve the right temperature and it just melted the interfacing previously (and carefully) applied to the bodice fabric. Arrrghhh! Here's the mess I ended up with:

The triangular piece of interfacing is the fix for the tear, the mess above it is the melted interfacing caused by the iron. Here's another shot:

And here it is from the right side of the dress:

Ick. No way to save this at all. But strangely enough, I was hardly bothered by it despite the expense of the fabric, and despite all the work with no dress to show for it. I couldn't believe how not-upset I was. And then I realized: this wasn't the dress I wanted to make anyway. It was actually a relief to have it ruined beyond repair. If I had just listened to my muse in the first place, I would have been working on the dress I really wanted to be sewing and I would have avoided this sartorial disaster. I keep having to learn this lesson over and over and over; I just don't seem to "get it". Sewing is fun - work on what you want to work on, not what you think you should be working on!

Parting Shot: A visitor that showed up on my deck this evening; I got to watch him take a nap while I ate dinner. I have no idea where he came from or where he went to later, but it was nice have a kitty around, even if just for a little while.

How To Know When You Need To Update Your Blog

2011-06-12T20:23:00.008-04:00

When you start clicking on it, idly wondering if there is a new post. Seriously. The last couple of weeks, I've been checking in, sincerely hoping the author has written something new. When you start reading your own blog like it belongs to someone else, you are way past due for a new post.

I was startled in to realizing that I HAD a blog when I read Isabelle's at Kitty Couture this weekend and found that she mentioned my Easter Monique dress in her very first podcast. Wow. I am a way beyond flattered and she said some really wonderful things about it, being the lovely generous person that she is. I loved hearing her (and not just because she said nice things about my dress) because her voice is beautiful, and I made my mother listen to her, too.

I have actually been working on some things, and even taking photos, but no great finishes to show. This weekend, though, I wanted something I could make in a day, and I decided on a skirt in a wonderful Kaffe Fassette rayon I got last summer. I made this dress in a different Kaffe Fassette rayon, and I found it to be high quality that didn't wrinkle very much.

I practically knew from when I bought it what I wanted to make: a maxi skirt. For the past three summers, maxi dresses have been all the rage, but I wasn't interested. I wanted, though, a long, flowing skirt I could wear with flat sandles and feel cool, but still be covered up. I had decided to look for the appropriate pattern.

But on Saturday morning, I remember I had this book that I found in a dark, and wonderfully musty bookshop near Threave, Scotland in 2003 with Eileen and Loy:
It was written in 1955, by Mary Brooks Picken. All of the 200 projects involve NO patterns, and it is full of timely advice such as:

Make yourself ready mentally and physically for sewing. First, assemble all your materials just as you would if you making a cake. Then order the groceries, make the urgent phone call, tidy the house and yourself so that you will not have other things on your mind while you sew.

Yeah, I'll keep that in mind, Mrs. Picken. My sewing process starts like this: Is it Saturday? (Yes.) Can I blow off all the activities I could or should be doing like working out, going to sewing guild, photographing the company golf tournament, and attending the required seminar at church? (Yes.) Do I have Diet Coke? (God, yes.) If there is no food in my house at supper time, can I convince The Carpenter to take me out? (Praise God, yes.) Did I shower? (Of course.)

The first project Mrs. P has in her book is a dirndl skirt. Pass. But the second project in her book is a semi-circular skirt which is a LOT of fun to make:

You can make this skirt any length you like, but the longer it is the wider it will be at the hem. Mrs. P gives you specific instructions as to how to cut the waist and the hemline, complete with a diagram. I have made this skirt three times before: 1) a short, above-the-knee cotton skirt; 2) a below-the-knee duchess satin skirt for a Christmas party; and 3) a long rayon skirt for summer.

First you fold your fabric on the cross grain as shown in her diagram. For your waist, the measurement you want is one-fourth of your waist measurement plus one-half inch. I wanted a 29 inch waist, so that came out to be 7 1/4 inches, and with the half inch, the total was 7 3/4 inches. I rounded up to 8 inches. So from corner A, I measured 8 inches to point B. I then attached string to a pen, held the string at corner A, and drew from B to C. That gave me my cutting line for my waist.

As for cutting the hem, I decided how long I wanted my skirt to be, and then I added the seam allowances. My total ended up 37 inches. I then added the previous 8 inches (which was my A to B radius). This ended up at 45 inches. So I measured 45 inches from A to D. I again took my pen on the string, held the string at A, and then drew from D to E. (This was a bit tricky since my arms were stretched for a very great length to make this happen. It would be a easier if someone else held the string at point A while you draw your mark if you are going to be making a very long skirt.)

I then cut out my skirt on those two lines.

The great advantage of this skirt is that there is only one seam - the back seam. And it is on the selvege, so techincally, you don't even have to finish the seam allowances. Just sew up the seam, and insert your zipper. (A handy tutorial on zipper insertion is here.)

For the waistband, I cut a four inch wide rectangle, about 6 inches longer than my waist (just to make sure it was long enough) and I interfaced it. I marked 29 inches on the waistband and attached the skirt to the waistband. You will probably have to clip the edge of skirt waist to get it to stretch to fit onto the finished waist size on your waistband. If the waist is too small, just move the skirt piece up, making the seam allowance bigger, to make it fit.

I finished the waistband in the usual fashion, but decided I was too lazy to go the button/buttonhole route, so I ended up just hand sewing a snap on it.

The only tricky part of this skirt is hemming it. Here's the thing: a semi-circular skirt, by it's very nature, is going to involve various grains of your fabric. Your back seam will be on the lengthwise grain, the front of the skirt will be on the crosswise grain, and the sides of your skirt will be on the bias. If you have a firmly woven fabric, this won't be a big deal, but if you have drapey rayon, for example, that bias is going to stretch, stretch, stretch. Here's an illustration:

See that? The sides of my skirt hung more than 3 inches lower than the front or the back. I figured this out by using a yard stick and measuring in the mirror how far from the floor the front of the skirt hung, and then compared it to how far from the floor the sides hung. At least three inches. I thought about leaving it alone and calling it a "design feature" but then I decided even I wasn't that lazy.

There is no exact science to trimming the necessary amount from the sides and blending the cut to nothing on the front and the back. I just laid the skirt down, measured 3 inches at the sides and gradually reduced the trimming to nothing as I approached the front and the back:

Ahh, that's better. You can see that the sides are still a little longer than the front, but that was on purpose. I have a tendency to over-correct when I sew, and the last thing I wanted to do was to make my sides shorter than they were supposed to be. A little longer, no big deal; a little shorter - ack!!!

The actual hem was just sergering the hem edge, turning it up a half inch, and topstitching it down.

Here is the finished skirt:

A better view of the waistband:

The back:

You can see that it did end up being ankle length which is what I was going for:

What the photos don't show is how wonderfully swishy this skirt is. I should have gotten a shot of me twirling in it. Also, the other nice feature of this skirt is that it is cut so that it lays flat about the hips and then flares out as it gets longer. This is nice because, unlike a gathered skirt, it doesn't bunch up around your hips and waist (where you DON'T want extra fabric).

Anyway, this was a one day project and I had it done before three o'clock. Mrs. P would be pleased to know that I still had time to run by the grocery store and cook dinner for The Carpenter. But by no means was my house tidy.

Parting Shot: One of Anne's quilts she made for her nephew - I took this at her annual Memorial Day party. It looked lovely lying near the tree, waiting for a child to get tired and cuddle with it:

The Monique Dress

2011-04-06T19:17:00.006-04:00

I'm pleased to report that spring has officially arrived! And not only is my Easter dress done - weeks ahead, mind you - the retreat I was directing at my parish is also over. I'm not completely done, of course (you never are), but most of the work with the retreat is finished and hopefully I can spend more of my free time on sewing and maybe I might even quilt something. (Gasp!) I finished the Monique dress this weekend. Based on the muslin I made, I wanted to lower the bodice, so I lengthened the front "straps" of the dress bodice pattern by an inch and a quarter:

You can see where I lengthened the front bodice piece and front neckline pattern piece. Once I got it all together (with the exception of the arm facings), I tried it on and discovered that rather than drop the front bodice down an inch and a quarter, my alterations had pushed the shoulder seam to the back about an inch. I tried it on while Vicki was over, and she suggested that I simply lengthen the bodice about 2 inches at the bottom of the bodice so that the waistband would actually sit at my waist. I agree, and I'll do that next time. The dress as it is, with my experimental alterations, doesn't look bad, so I'll wear for Easter. I made up the dress in a Jane Sassman fabric that I got in Dolyestown, PA.

The light was bad when I photographed the dress, plus the wind wasn't cooperating. This photo doesn't do the fabric justice, so click on the link above to see what it should look like. I'll try to get Aimee to take a photo when I wear it so you can see what it looks like on. I did find a very cute white cardigan sweater to wear with it because at this time of year, it can always be a bit chilly. I'll be wearing this to the Easter Vigil Mass, which won't start until 8:00 pm, so I know I'll need the sweater.

Of course, nothing ever goes smoothly, as I discovered when I attempted to put on the arm facings. While I had altered the front neck facing to reflect my pattern alteration, I had neglected to do the same to the front arm facing. As Vicki would say, "Duh."

Tonight, having a rare evening with nothing planned, I decided to make my silk dress a silk skirt. The bodice was really too tight, and I have been wearing it with a turtleneck sweater over it, so I wouldn't have bust-revealing issues. With spring here, I really wanted to make it an elastic skirt. I love the silk and I love the colors of it.

Normally I avoid refashioning. It seems to be so much more of a PITA than new construction. Probably because I am operating without instructions and there always seems to be unforeseen issues. : )

But I thought this should be fairly straight forward. I cut the bodice off, slipped the skirt over my hips to make sure it would fit, and then put in an elastic waist. But when I tried it on , it wouldn't go over my thighs. Sign. An unforeseen issue. I don't know why this happened and I don't want to find out. There is no way I'm going to take a measuring tape to my backside. Instead, I discovered that it will slide on just fine as long as it goes over my head. Problem solved:

One aggravation: the elastic is twisted inside the casing despite my best efforts. I hate it when the elastic gets twisted. But as bad I hate it, I hate resewing even more, so twisted it shall stay. The twisting will not deter my wearing this skirt all summer - it's light and cool and the silk is already showing signs of wear, so I need to enjoy it now, before the silk breaks down completely. This will be a one season garment.

Parting shot: I've been baking bread like Loy taught me. It has been awesome!

The One Where I Run Away From Home

2011-03-08T21:08:00.007-05:00

I spent this past weekend in Doylestown, PA where I visited my friend, Loy, for no other reason than I had to leave town if I wanted to sew. I've been too busy thus far this year to do any meaningful sewing, and I anticipate my life to continue that way for at least another month, so the only solution was to run away for a three day Craft Weekend. Loy's place fit the bill remarkably well since she is a lacemaker, glassblower, silversmith, knitter, quilter, potter, and jeweler. Oh, and she spins her own knitting yarn too.I wish I had gotten a photo of her spinning wheel, but the battery on my camera died before I could snap it.

I'm probably leaving out some of her other skills but one I enjoyed this weekend was her ability to cook:

We enjoyed this crusty, fresh baked bread Sunday afternoon with tea, butter, and jam. Yum.

But I'm getting ahead of myself; on Friday evening I was waiting at the Richmond airport to board the plane and one of my fellow passengers had on a gorgeous white dress with a beautiful jacket. She was totally rockin' it while waiting to board and I couldn't help but surreptitiously take her photo:

How fabulous is this outfit? How gorgeous does she look? I love the scarf, love the pocket book, love the whole way she carries this off. I desperately wanted to a) tell her how much I loved her dress, and b) beg her to tell me where she got it. But she got away from me before and after the plane landed, and I was never able to stalk, I mean, compliment her.

I can assure you I did not look this put together. I was wearing jeans and a sweater that is starting to pill, but I can't throw out because I love the color. : )

My plans for the weekend were to rectify this situation and make a muslin of a new dress pattern that I got at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Expo, another dress by Kay Whitt, called The Monique Dress:

My vague plan is to make this my Easter dress, but after my last Kay Whitt escapade, I knew a muslin was a must. First though, I have to show you what I was sewing on. This is Loy's sewing machine that she got at age 13, and it was used then:

Loy thinks it is from the fifties; I wouldn't be surprised if it was older. Sewing on it isn't bad, but the foot pedal has a tendancy to stick and just keep running; it's like driving a car with no brakes. Fortunately, it completely behaved until the last seam, and then it just kept sewing along as if a ghost was running the damn thing. Loy gave it a stern talking to, and a shake, and it finally quit. But then it wouldn't start again. I guess we hurt its feelings. Loy is going to try and get a new foot pedal for it since she has never bonded with another machine. She has tried, she really has, but she always comes back to this one.

But back to the Kay Whitt pattern. I paid $ 13 for it, so I decided to take the time to trace the pattern pieces. I also decided to trust Ms. Whitt's sizing, but before I traced and cut it out in my muslin fabric, I doubled checked my bust size. When in the world did I go from a 34 bust to a 36????? I don't remember this. It can't be possible. And yet, there it was, right on the tape measure.

So I traced and cut a size small, and it fit perfectly.

These are horrible photos of me; I hate to think I really look like this in real life, and if I do, Vicki, please let me know (I'm counting on you). They were taken on a rainy Sunday late afternoon, and it was cold, cold, cold. The dress is not as short as it is pictured here; there is a band that goes on the skirt edge to make it longer, but I didn't bother as it was just a muslin. The biggest surprise is that the "waist" is really a raised empire waist, rather than sitting at one's actual waist. That isn't what I got from the pattern photo. I even double checked the pattern to make sure I didn't miss some lower bodice pattern piece. Nope, I did it correctly, and the "waist" sits right up under your bust. I'm not long waisted either; if anything, I'm a tad short waisted . . . it's a mystery.

Loy and I went to the local fabric shop and I bought some fabrics to make this into a very bright Easter dress. I'm looking forward to it, but I don't know when the making of this dress will occur. Lent starts tomorrow, so I guess I have 40 days to make it happen!

My other revelation this weekend: my scissors are crap. I used Loy's Ginghers to cut out this muslin and there is just no going back. I went out today and bought a pair for myself and can't wait to use them.

This was a much needed getaway weekend. I feel like my sewing compulsion has been satisfied and hopefully this will get me through the next four weeks where there will be no time for any sewing/quilting/knitting!

Parting Shot: One reason I've been busy; the Carpenter was received into the Catholic Church on February 6, 2011. The Sacrament of Confirmation, Father Spencer presiding:

It was a great day.

A Few of My Favorite Things (or how I learned to love my notions)

2011-01-16T14:28:00.006-05:00

I've been wanting to write this post for awhile; I always like hearing about other sewers' favorite notions and how they use them because it gives me new ideas to try. Now that I have been sewing for 9 years, I've picked out my own favorite notions that help make the creation process more enjoyable.

First up are these: These are stone coasters with cork bottoms Anne gave me a couple of Christmases ago. They are decorated with vintage pattern illustrations, and I have found them to be excellent pattern weights due to their weight and non-slip bottoms. I don't even use them as coasters anymore!

Next up is my handy rotary cutter: The rotary cutter is no surprise; it's a staple for many sewers and quilters, but I've learned that, for me, the 45 mm is the optimum size - the 60 mm size is just too large and I can't control it as well. Also, this brand, Olfa, is my favorite - there is another brand, sold at Walmart, that just isn't as good. The reason I have included it in this list is that I am using it more and more to cut out my garments. It is excellent for those patterns that are mostly of straight lines, and it is superior for cutting out silks and drapey rayons. Using scissors on those fabrics results in more distortion. You can cut patterns, even curvy ones, much more accurately with this rotary cutter.

Here are three more; my glue stick, painter's tape, and silk pins:

The glue stick is just a regular Elmer's glue stick; I don't use fabric glues, just this glue stick I picked up at Walmart. It's my secret for glue basting zippers, or for any time I need a temporary hold.

The painters tape is extremely useful because it is a tape that lifts off easily and has no sticky residue. I use it to indicate the wrong size of fabric when cutting out (it helps to ensure I don't get two right sleeves or two left backs), and I use it to tape pattern pieces together (unlike scotch tape, you can iron it). I've used it to tape down tissue paper to my sewing table when I'm tracing patterns too.

And the silk pins: they are the only pins I use these days. When I was piecing the Double Wedding Ring Quilt, I needed very sharp pins to piece all those curved pieces. I tried new quilting pins, I tried applique pins, and then I finally bought these silk pins at my LQS. I found them to be the sharpest of all the pins and allowed me to accurately pin all those curves in the DWRQ; I just continued to use them in my garment sewing, no matter what the fabric content. Pining is just so much easier when your pins are really sharp. And these pins have no plastic parts to melt - so you can iron over them. AND these are the only kind of pins I have found you can sew over (not that I'm advocating such a thing or would ever sew over my pins -ahem). Basically, these days, my feeling is that if your pins don't draw blood when you reach for one, they aren't sharp enough.

Next up, quarter inch Steam-A-Seam and tissue paper:

I orginally started using the Steam-A-Seam to secure my seam allowances when sewing in a zipper. Now I have found all kinds of uses for it. Like ironing down a quilt label before I hand sew it to the back. Or matching plaids at a seam line. Or anytime I need to make sure my fabric does not move while I am sewing it. It's more secure than the glue stick, and has no sticky residue. The longer I have it around, the more opportunities I've found to use it.

And the tissue paper is the cheap stuff you can get at the drug store. I've found it the best for tracing patterns. I've tried Swedish tracing paper (too expensive and too hard to find), sewer paper (too hard to see), brown wrapper paper (can't see through it), but I've found that the cheap tissue paper works the best. I don't even have to buy it most of the time - I just save it from gifts and use that.

And finally, my tried and true trusty iron:

I bought it in 2003 and it is still going strong. Nothing makes your life easier than a really good iron that heats up hot, has great steam, and doesn't drip.

So those are some of my frequent tools that might not be so obvious as sewing notions. Noticeably absent are some really good scissors. I'm still buying my sissors at Walmart. If you have a favorite pair that serve you well, let me know - I'm on the hunt for an outstanding pair of scissors big enough to cut out patterns and really sharp, too!

An Experiment

2011-01-15T17:26:00.009-05:00

Now that I have my muslin sort of where I want it, I wanted to try to make it in a silk charmeuse. As you know, silk charmeuse is absolutely wonderful to wear, but a PITA to sew. Conventional wisdom says you need to line it with a sew-in interfacing like silk organza, which gives it body, but allows the sheen and drape to remain. That sounds like even a bigger PITA than I wanted to deal with. But I got an idea. When I was sewing my Singapore silk dress, I used this fusible interfacing on it: It was the first time I had ever used this particular kind of interfacing, made for light fabrics like silk and it worked great. Usually, I use the all-purpose stuff for my sewing and it is the best fusible interfacing I've ever used:

Chris, in my sewing guild, got me hooked on it; I know everyone has their favorite interfacing, and this mine. The tricot worked great on the Singapore silk dress, so I wanted to try it on the silk charmeuse. I fused a sample first:

And found it looked pretty good from the right side:

So I cut the bodice pieces from the tricot interfacing and marked all my darts on the interfacing. Then I fused the tricot to the silk charmeuse, and cut the silk with a rotary cutter, using the interfacing as my pattern. Here's the front bodice already fused and cut out of the silk:

Here's what the right side looked like before the darts were sewn:

I think it looked pretty good; maybe not as good as if I took the time to go the whole couture route, but good enough considering the time and effort put into it. I went ahead and sewed up the darts and bodice. Sewing the darts were a breeze since I could easily transfer all the pattern markings to the tricot. Here's the inside:

And here's the right side:

I can't really tell how it fits since I haven't put in a zipper. I think this is worth going back to the fabric store and getting another 4 yards to make the skirt and finish the dress. The bodice isn't strapless, but will have thin straps to help keep it up. The pattern calls for facings for the bodice, but I usually prefer to line my bodices. But I haven't decided which way to go on that. If it all works, it might be my Christmas party dress for 2011!

Parting Shot: There is no parting shot, but a confession: I managed to give myself food poisoning Thursday night. I suspect my undercooked chicken was the culprit. The good news is that I only poisoned myself - I was in a hurry because I was hungry. I made it to work the next day, but finally had to go home after lunch - my stomach was in full rebellion mode and was not happy. To say my culinary skills are less than accomplished is the understatement of the week. Sigh.

I'm Not Sewing, only Altering!

2011-01-08T15:39:00.006-05:00

I'm not good at altering patterns; after nine years of sewing, I've largely been able to avoid it. For several reasons. I'm a reasonably standard size: I'm 5'5" and most patterns are drafted for women who stand at 5'6". I have no rounded shoulders, narrow shoulders, or sloping shoulders. I do have a right shoulder than dips a little lower than the left, but not so bad anyone would notice. Also, I tend to just use patterns over and over again that work for me so I don't have to bother with altering anything. My "alterations" tend to varing my seam allowances as I sew - I'll use a 1/2 inch seam allowance if I need more room, and a 3/4 seam allowance if I need to tighten it up.

And of course, I hate doing muslins. My biggest deterrent to making alterations. But before Christmas, I made a muslin and the waist and hips were too tight. Here is a photo of the bodice with no alterations: My question was whether I should add to the sides of the bodice, or whether I should narrow the darts. Audrey correctly pointed out that I should check the front darts and see if they were properly spaced; if so, I should add to the sides. Summerset correctly pointed out that if I made the darts narrower, the bodice would more properly fit an "A" cup than a "B" cup. So this morning I tried it on with these comments in mind. The darts are perfectly placed. I couldn't ask for better. And I am a "B" cup, I don't need to make the darts narrower. So the answer (thanks Audrey and Summerset!) is that I needed to add to the side seams.

But how much? Summerset also wisely pointed out that these older patterns have the seam allowances printed on the patterns, so it is easy to figure out the finished garment measurements. I measured the waist on this pattern, and compared it to my TNT pattern (that's for you, Anne), and found I needed to add an inch to the waist/hip area.

I ended up tracing new bodice pattern pieces to add the quarter inch to the side seams because the original pattern is 49 years old, and ripped a little while I was handling it. As Summerset suggested, I added to the side seams just below the 12 notch. Here is muslin #2 with the pattern alterations:

It doesn't look a heck of a lot different than version # 1 except that I am not sucking in my gut as much!

Do y'all see any other fitting issues? Does the bust area look a little too big to you? (Or am I in danger of overthinking this?) Let me know if you do!

Of course, a muslin like this doesn't tell you everything you need to know for the finished garment. How will it fit with it being interlined? How will it fit with straps on the bodice and a big heavy skirt attached? How will it fit made of silk? That means more practice.

I think, though, I will be more likely to do muslins if I have muslin fabric lying around. This fabric was given to me by a friend whose sewing relative had died. It's a cheap cotten and I don't like it, but I took it because free fabric is now mulsin fabric to me!

Parting Shot: Vicki's tablerunner now has a new home! A very appreciated Christmas gift - thank you Vicki!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T19:43:00.006-05:00

I received the sweetest email from Gwen yesterday, basically asking me what the heck had happened to me. Yes, it has been a month since I last posted what with Christmas and football keeping me from sewing a single stitch. (By the way, War Eagle!) I took the last two weeks of the year off and headed down home to Cotton Creek, AL. I had a lovely time - it was a wonderful Christmas, and the Carpenter came too, and experienced all that Cotton Creek had to offer. Let's see . . . we had snow flurries on Christmas day and we ate a lot; that's it, you are pretty much up to speed.

For Christmas, he gave me the Alabama Stitch Book, which I have been eyeing for ages. He apparently bought it after seeing it at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts when we went to see the Quilt Exhibit. The author, Natalie Chanin, is from just outside of Florence, Alabama, from a little corner called Lovelace Crossroads. The first page of her book shows an arial view of Lovelace Crossroads, and one of the houses was her grandparents', and is now hers. I find this love of home to be typical of folks from Alabama, and no matter how far they move away, it seems they usually race back as soon as they can.

The book is an interesting one because all of her stitching is done by hand, even her seams. As you know, I avoid handstitching like taxes. I usually find that one quarter inch Steam-A-Seam can fulfill most of my handbasting needs. I thought I would be bored, but I read every bit of the book. I don't know if it will inspire me to the extent that I would actually hand stitch reverse applique, but you never know. I do think her skirt is adorable (the one piece pattern is included in the back of the book) and it is made from old t-shirts. I do like the idea of recycling old t-shirts into a new purpose. I've never actually sewed any knits before, and this simple skirt may be the best way to start. Cheap, too. I don't have to embellish by hand like Ms. Chanin unless I want to.

Speaking of saving money, I went out and bought a dress from Anthropolgie to wear to my company Christmas party in December. I brought it home, tried it on again, but then I scrambled around in my closet, and found this dress which I made for the cruise Mother and I took in 2009. I decided to wear the dress I made instead because it fit better, looked more like a party dress, and saved me $ 168 since I took the Peggy Sue dress back to Anthropolgie with no regrets. I wore it with the full crinoline and no sash and got tons of compliments on it all night. This photo doesn't show much of dress, but it does show the Carpenter in a suit!

We had a great time at that party, but my re-entry into the working world this week has been brutal. After two weeks of cooking, eating, reading, and in general doing whatever I wanted to do, the enforced routine of getting up and out the door for work seems like the Bataan Death March. Not to mention the reduction in calories after a month of eating like I'm in Scotland on vacation (three full meals, plus medicial afternoon tea with restorative shortbread cookies). Trying to come down from that and exist on merely 1800 to 2000 calories a day appears somewhat ridiculous. When can I retire?

And speaking of retirement, I'm having lunch with VickiW tomorrow to collect my Christmas present, the fab tablerunner. As soon as I can I'll get a photo of it on the table the Carpenter made. I know it will look fantastic!

I Want to Sew for Me!

2010-12-05T16:42:00.005-05:00

After finishing The Carpenter's shirt, which feels like it took ages to complete, I was feeling the need to make something for ME. I'm sure the Selfish Seamstress would approve. Not only did I want to make something for me, me, me, I wanted it to be quick. So two Sundays ago, I made a gathered skirt: I realize this is a less-than-chic look, but at the time I didn't care. I wanted something quick and I wanted it simple. Nothing simpler than a gathered skirt - I didn't even use a pattern. I cut two rectangles, 40 inches wide by 29 inches long, for the body of the skirt, and I cut another rectangle, about 5 1/4 inches wide, for the waistband. I made the waist 29 1/2 inches long and I think that has made the skirt a little too big in the waist. I need to make it a little tighter in the future. I put in a four inch hem to give the hem weight. I used a red zipper because that is what I had on hand, so I used a red button, too:

This fabric is from my stash, and I bought it at The Fabric Place in Massachuestts about six years ago. It was on the wool table, but I am pretty sure it is 100% polyester - I could tell by the odor when I ironed it with steam. No burn test necessary - there is no more distinctive smell than polyester when it is ironed!

Fortunately, it wasn't bad to work with, and it doesn't wrinkle. It got the job done for a quick project, just to satisfy my sewing soul. If I make this skirt again, I will shorten it by 2 inches for a less dowdy look, and to make it (hopefully) more vaguely rockin'.

This afternoon I wandered into the sewing studio (a/k/a the entire downstairs of my house) and I wanted to do something, but not take on a big project. So I made a muslin (gasp!) of a strapless bodice from a vintage pattern just to see how it would fit me (size 14, bust 34). Here is the front:

Here is the back:

And here are the front and back pattern pieces:

The bust fits fine, but the waist and hip area is a tad tight. I think I need to add an extra 1/2 inch in the waist/hip area to make it fit better. Here's my question: should alter the pattern at the side seams, or should I narrow the darts to add the extra 1/2 inch? Does it matter? I'm leaning towards making the darts narrower, but I don't know the "correct" way to make this alteration. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Parting Shot: For Thanksgiving, the Carpenter and I went to Williamsburg, VA. My favorite photo I took all day at historic Williamsburg - he was squirrel hunting:

It's Not So Bad

2010-11-18T22:16:00.005-05:00

I finally, finally got the shirt done for the BF using McCalls 6044. And now that it is complete, I can say that I spent way more time agonizing over it than I did sewing it. I spent Sunday getting the collar sewn on using David Coffin's instructions in his book, Shirtmaking. At one point, I thought I had done it wrong, unsewed it, then sewed it back, and only then I discovered I did it right the first time! I really think that part of my confusion stemmed from Mr. Coffin's instructions which are so detailed, I sort of get lost about what I'm doing next. He's extremely thorough, but sometimes I just need basic, overview instructions about what we are trying to accomplish here. I will say that it resulted in the best collar I have ever sewn:

Certainly, the collar stand is way better than the ones I sewed using conventional instructions in my Amy Butler tunics:

On Sunday, I also got the buttonholes done. I took Monday off of work and finished putting the buttons on and I hemmed it. The Carpenter came over that night for dinner and he was anxious to try it on. It wasn't near as small as I feared it would be:

Hallelujah!!!! It fits perfectly as long as he doesn't move around a lot. : ) For the next shirt that I make, though, I'll probably make a bigger size since he likes his shirts loose fitting, and I'll probably go with a more traditional pattern that has a yoke. I know he likes it though, because he left wearing it!

So this was definitely a learning experience, one that I probably need to repeat soon so I don't forget all the lessons learned. But the holidays are coming up, and I've finally learned not to line up sewing projects for Christmas - I don't need that stress, since I apparently can make sewing stressful enough without a deadline!

I will say that this shirt, along with my last few dress projects, in rayon and silk, have taught me the advantages of using a rotary cutter in the cutting out process, rather than just using scissors. You can cut way more accurately with rotary cutter on the rayon and silk since the scissors distort your fabric as you cut. And the rotary cutter came in very handy for the shirt since the pattern pieces were large and mostly straight edged. Anyway, I'm getting better at using the rotary cutter on curves as well.

Parting Shot: The Carpenter's dog. I expected him to have a "manly" dog like a chocolate lab, but he loves his foo-foo dog, Lucy, who is a Pekingese:

I've Mastered Cuffs!

2010-11-01T15:52:00.007-04:00

Well, not mastered, but I've achieved cuffs based on David Coffin's instructions in his book and video entitled, "Shirtmaking":

The first cuff took me an hour and half to make, consulting with both the book and the video; the second cuff only took 30 minutes. Hopefully, I'll remember how to do it on the next shirt. I went head and sewed on the front plackets as well and I'm pretty pleased with my matching:

REALLY pleased with the pocket which is below:

Now for the collar; there will be more reading and video watching, and while I think this will be too small for the Carpenter, this is building up my skills. If the collar goes well, I might as well put the buttons on it and hem it up. Maybe I can at least get a photo of him wearing it! It's the thought that counts, right?

On on a non-sewing note, I'm extremely thrilled to be invited to do a guest post on Seraphic's blog for single Catholic women which is published here. Seraphic is a big proponent on waiting for the right man and I couldn't agree more!

Parting Shots: The Carpenter and his brother, the Forester, chopped wood yesterday near the Nottaway River and I got to go. Here's the Nottaway - not a big river, mind you:

Here's the beginning of the cutting. I think the men just like using chain saws:

Brothers, always:

All done:

I'm Sorta Bummed

2010-10-20T21:37:00.005-04:00

I think the shirt I am making for The Carpenter is going to be too small. Sigh. It has been my dream to make a traditional man's shirt and I picked two patterns to make this a reality, an easy one and a harder one. The easier one was this one, McCalls 6044: What made it the easier pattern was that it had no yokes and no sleeve placket. I figured easier was better. I used a cheap brown homespun plaid I got at Joanne's for a very good price and painstakingly cut it out, making sure to match all the fronts, the front plackets, the pocket, and even the sleeves. The sleeves, by the way, are made up of two pieces - which is definitely different. The bottom part of seam where the two sleeve pieces join is where the sleeve opening is located - normally this is where the sleeve placket would go. But since there is a seam there instead, the instructions have you just fold under the seam allowances to finish them.

I'm not completely unfamilar with shirts. I've made at least a dozen men's shirts from this Kwik Sew pattern:

This Kwik Sew pattern does have yokes (which really aren't that hard to deal with), but has no collar stand, front plackets, or cuffs. I made my first collar with a collar stand when I made the Amy Butler tunic. Really, the only thing I haven't done on a shirt is flat-felled seams, cuffs, and sleeve plackets. I pulled out David Coffin's wonderful book "Shirtmaking" which I have had for years and read up. I also rediscovered that I had his video which demonstrates his techniques from the book. (I borrowed this video so long ago from VickiW that I owe her a fortune in late fees for its return!)

I decided after reading Mr. Coffin's instructions on flat-felled seams, I was going to have to do them without the special flat-felling foot. Using the foot requires a different seam allowance for your edges. For example, the piece that folds over requires a 7/8 seam allowance and the other side requires a 1/4 seam allowance. I don't have the patience to redraw all the pattern pieces to accomodate these seam allowance changes.

So I did all my seams with the standard 5/8 seam allowance, then I trimmed one edge to about 1/4 inch, then I folded the other edge over the smaller by hand and pressed to one side. To hold the seam allowances in place while I top stitched them from the right side, I used 1/4 inch wide Steam-A-Seam which was much better than pins. I got to practice this on the shoulder seams, the sleeves seams, and the side seams. Pretty cool, although kind of time consuming. The top stitched seams looked awesome, especially since I took Mr. Coffin's advice and shortened my stitch length considerably - probably to 22 stitches to the inch. Also, on the shoulder seams and sleeve cap seams, I edge stitched them as well. This definitely made it look more ready-to-wear and provided a very strong seam.

At this point I had The Carpenter try it on and I think it is going to be too small. His chest is 39 1/2 inches, and the size chart indicates that he would be a medium, but I still think it is going to be too small. I know what I should do: finish this shirt using David Coffin's techniques on the shirt cuffs and collar, and chalk it up to a learning experience even if it doesn't fit. Learning on this shirt will make the next one (the REAL one) go so much easier. That is what my brain is telling me to do. My motivation, however, has plummeted. I hate working on garments that won't actually get worn, otherwise known as muslins. No matter how much I learn from them.
Any advice, y'all????

Parting Shot: We went to New England a few weekends ago and we had GLORIOUS autumn weather. Here is a shot somewhere off the coast of Massachusetts, between Gloucester and Rockport:

McCalls 6123

2010-09-26T20:56:00.006-04:00

I got sidelined on the sewing train lately; I got the foolish notion to strip the wall paper from my master bath and renovate the bathroom. The wall paper stripping nearly killed me - it was as awful as everyone had warned me about - and the exhaustion I experienced from a week of nightly wall paper stripping triggered an MS attack of biblical proportions. (I asked VickiW to shoot me, and she volunteered her husband as a excellent shot.) But I survived, and today I finally finished the McCalls 6123 dress with my Singapore Silk: How busty does this dress make me look? Big enough to where I am self-conscious about it!!! I really am only a B cup, but the gathers in this bodice make me look like Dolly Parton's sister. : ) The dress actually hangs straighter than this photo leads you to believe; the wind was blowing when this was taken. Here's the back:

Here's an inside shot which shows the colors a bit more true:

This dress was fun to make. I used the same fabric for the bodice as I did for the lower part of the dress, but I reversed the fabric near the hem to make it subtely different. I will say that this dress pattern is made with LOTS of ease. The smart thing to do with this pattern is to make a muslin, but do as I say and not as I do. I didn't make one. Fortunately, the finished garment measurements are printed on the envelope and pattern, and I went from that. This is how large this dress runs: I usually make a size 12; I made a size 6. Now admittedly, the 6 is a tad tight, which is what is making me look like I had breast augmentation. Next time, I'll make this in a size 8.

A couple of things about this pattern. The original instructions have you cut out the gold bands, press up one edge 3/8 of an inch and sew them to the dress pieces. I didn't have the patience for all that, so I just figured out what measurement the bands would finish at, doubled that, and added the seam allowance. Then I folded the band in half length-wise and pressed it. I figured doing it this way wouldn't add too much bulk, given that I was working with silk, and I was right. Unfortunately, my math was wrong. I should have cut out the gold bands at 2 1/4 inch for them to finish at 1/2 inch. Instead, I cut them out at 3 1/4 inch, so they finished at 1 inch. I think, though, I am happier with the gold bands being 1 inch than if they had been 1/2 inch.

Another thing: I believe the patterns for the middle front and back gold bands were wrong - I believe they should have been reversed. Pattern piece 25 should have been 26 and vice-versa. I didn't test this out, though, and I just made one long band and pinned it around the lower dress section, tucking the end into the folded edge of the opposite end. I did the same for the gold hem band.

Kay Whitt designed this pattern for McCalls and I discovered that Ms. Whitt has no interest in clothing that is "de-constructed". For example, every seam was edge stitched and then top stitched, as well. Here's a photo of the top gold band just under the bust:

And for every opening, such as the neckline and armhole, not only did you stitch the seam, but then the opening was understitched, edge stitched, and top stitched. At first I thought this was a bit of over-construction, but as I progressed, I found that all this stitching really helped hammer this silk into submission. I don't know if I would have done all this stitching had I been working with cotton, but with the silk, it was worth it.

While working on this pattern, I discovered that Kay Whitt has a book out with other patterns for skirts, dresses, and jackets, so I bought it:

I love the skirt on the cover and that is probably the first pattern from the book I'll make. (The book comes with full size tissue patterns of all the designs featured.) The patterns in the book are like the McCalls 6123 - the garments are made using different, but coordinating fabrics. This is perfect for the silks I was using, or the designer collections you find in your LQS. Every quilt store should sell this book - the clothes are way cute and are perfect for the coodinating fabrics on display. It got me thinking about those feedsack fabrics I still have - rather than trying to get one garment from one feedsack, I could take several feedsacks that coordinate and make a skirt or dress. Hmmm, more possibilities.

Also while I was working on this dress, I discovered a moth had eaten a hole in the sleeve of one of my favorite sweaters. I cut off the bottoms of both sleeves, making them three quarters length, and added half inch pink silk bands to the end of the sleeves, using Ms. Whitt's edge stitch and top stitch technique:

The colors match so well that I am thinking of cutting off the turtleneck of this sweater and making it a cardigan, trimming it in more of the silk colors I used in the dress. I could then wear the sweater with the dress, covering my voluminous bosom, and thus enabling me to wear this in public throughout the autumn. : ) We'll see.

Next up: a shirt for the Carpenter. I bought two patterns at McCalls 99 cent sale: an easy one and a harder one. I'll start with the easy one in a cheap homespun plaid I got for a song at Joanns and see where I go from there.

Parting Shot: About a month ago the Carpenter and I went to Appamattox Plantation where General Grant had his headquarters during the seige of Petersburg. The house was originally built in the 1700s and was owned by the Epps family for over 300 years. It was a beautiful day:

Sinapore Swag!

2010-09-04T08:21:00.003-04:00

Look what I got! The Carpenter's sister and brother-in-law went to Sinapore and brought me back four gorgeous silks they bought on Arab Street:

They are sumptuous. Here is a photo where the colors are more true:

Each piece is about 2 yards, and I spent last weekend laying out various patterns to eke a dress out of the blue/gold piece. But at 2 yards, I would have barely enough for a dress even with a TNT pattern (that's for you, Anne). Prudence would dictate that any pattern I used needed a muslin, rather than just jumping into cutting all that luscious silk. I was trying to show some restraint, but as VickiW and Anne pointed out, why start now? I then thought about making a skirt from the gold charmuse and blouses from the other three fabrics, thus guaranteeing me that I would have enough fabric but that wasn't thrilling me.

The Carpenter's sister and BIL aren't sewers but they did a marvelous job of picking silks that beautifully coordinate with each other: So I looked around the internet for a possible dress pattern to use these silks in the best possible way and found this pattern:

It's McCalls 6123, and I think it is what I need. I can use most, if not all, the fabrics and not worry about yardage. After seeing this on the web, I found out that Anne had already made a muslin of it, with hilarious results (ask VickiW about it!). This pattern runs big. Real big. Fortunately, the pattern envelope provides the finished garment measurements, so I already know I won't be making my usual size 12; I'll probably be using size 8 or even size 6. Given that I know the finished measurements, I'll again throw caution to the winds and not bother with the muslin. A great project for the Labor Day weekend!

Parting Shot: A long time friend sent me this photo taken in the summer of 1981, when I was 17 and living in Saudi Arabia. It is an absolute hoot. I'm on the far left drinking the soda:

We are clearly in the middle of the desert, but I have no idea where, what we were doing, or why we were trying to look so cool. The real interesting thing is that I only recognize 2 other people in the picture. I have absolutely no idea who everyone else is. No clue. But what I DO remember is what I am wearing. I remember those exact pair of jeans (Levi's, of course). I remember the blouse (white lace with blue ribbon) and I certainly remember those white sandles which I not only wore all summer in Saudi, but all through Europe on a trip with my mother - Italy, Germany, Sweden. My grandmother used to tell me that she could always date photos by what she was wearing - she remembered her clothing more than the events! I guess I'm the same. : )

Simplicity 2360

2010-08-22T16:47:00.005-04:00

I finished my "real" rendition of Simplicity 2360, which is a pullover dress with an elastic waist. My muslin is in this post. Here's the pattern:A couple of things I did differently on this version: first, I made this one with short sleeves, rather than the sleeveless version, which I like, but it makes the bodice less fitted; I actually like the fit of the bodice better on the sleeveless one. Second, I narrowed the skirt pattern so that the skirt finished 2 inches less wide at the hem. Third, I made the elastic shorter, thus tightening up the waist, which was very much needed. Finally, I made no sash. Frankly, I ran out of fabric because I incorrectly sewed the bodice pieces together, and of course, I had already surged the seams. So instead of ripping out, I just cut new pieces. I think the dress needs a belt or sash, so I'll look for a suitable white fabric in my stash, or order more of this Kaffe Fassett rayon online. Right now, I'm wearing it without one:

Here's the back:

I can explain the boots! I wore this to work on Wednesday, and it was a rare rainy day - I wore boots and jean jacket with the dress, and the boots were so comfortable, I just never changed out of them into my "work" shoes.

Overall, the dress is extremely comfortable and easy to make. I was thinking of doing a fall version with three-quarter sleeves out of a wool challis, but I think it is time to put this pattern away for awhile. I like it, but enough is enough and it is time to move on!

Parting Shot: The Crab Dress on its way to the Outer Banks. We stopped in Sussex County at a Plantation home where The Carpenter had recently restored a 200 year orangery - which is basically a greenhouse for citrus trees. He did a great job, but yes, I realize I'm partial!

Crack Cookies

2010-08-17T20:07:00.007-04:00

It has been brought to my attention that my blogging of late has been somewhat . . . sparse. Or non-existent, even. VickiW has described it as "criminal". Two things are going on: work (not only is it busy, but I spent last week in our Illinois office), and The Carpenter. Of whom I am deliriously happy. Unfortunately, my happiness is getting in the way of sewing up the real version of Simplicity 2360 with the fabulous pink Kaffe Fassett rayon I ordered. I have been working at it a little at a time, and finally tonight I got it done. I'll probably wear it tomorrow and I'll get Aimee to take a photo so I can post it here. It turned out well: I just love it when a project comes together exactly as you imagine it. (Unlike my last post. )

But to entertain you in the meantime, I absolutely must share with you the recipe for the Crack Cookies. These are just peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, but when I took them to work, my co-workers sucked them up like a Hoover Deluxe. My friend Lynne and I renamed them the "Crack Cookies" because you can't eat less than three and they are devilishly awesome. To be extra evil I shared the recipe with everyone at work:

Crack Cookies

2 sticks of butter
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky, your choice)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups of self-rising flour
1 package of chocolate chips

Using a mixer, beat the butter and the peanut butter on medium speed until smooth. Beat in, a little at a time, the sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy. Beat in, a little at a time, the self rising flour. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons full on a cookie sheet and bake for 11 to 12 minutes at 350. When you take them out, they won't look done, but just leave them on the hot cookie sheet for 30 minutes to finish cooking and thoroughly cool.

Notes: you don't have to make these cookies all at once. The dough will last up to a week in air-tight container. If you make the cookies from chilled dough, you will probably want to increase the cooking time to about 14 minutes. I used Peter Pan creamy peanut butter because it is the best; it has more sugar in it than most peanut butters, and thus it is the most yummy. Also, I use self-rising flour because it saves me some steps of measuring, but if all you have is all purpose flour then just use that and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt. And one last thing: these cookies are so much better the next day after you make them. That one day delay transforms them from merely peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to the Crack Cookies.

And that's how you make the Crack Cookies.

Parting Shot: The Carpenter and me at Hatteras on the ferry to Ocracoke Island. And yes, the Crab Dress went too. More photos to come.

A Horrockses Mistake

2010-07-19T17:20:00.005-04:00

When we last left off, my mojo was AWOL and I was obsessed with making a Horrockses-inspired dress. Pretty soon after, my work mojo returned, and my sewing mojo wandered back into my sewing room a/k/a the whole downstairs of my house! I then started plotting my Horrockses masterpiece which soon became my Horrockses mistake as a result of my misguided fabric choice. I started off pretty well; I chose a 1940's retro fabric with a striped motif that seemed to be a Horrockses staple. I bought all my LQS had - 5 3/4 yards and I decided to use all 5 3/4 yards on the cross-grain to create a full skirt, and use the part I lopped off for the skirt length for the sundress bodice. My mother said, "Won't those horizontal stripes make you look fat?" Oh, of course not, I thought, I'm not fat, it will be fine. Well, I was so wrong:Note that I am not modeling the dress and you only get to see this baby on a hanger, partially constructed. I got the straps pinned in place and tried it on and I looked wide as the Mississippi. You could no more get me photographed in this dress for all the world to see than you could get me to pole dance. Oh. My. God. It wasn't just the horizontal red and white stripes that made it go wrong, it was also the quilting fabric that was way too stiff for the style I had in mind. I really needed a soft, drapey cotton or rayon blend for what I was going for. I don't usually made this mistake - I'm usually pretty good about matching up a pattern with the appropriate fabric choice. I blame the anesthesia.

I learned a few things though in making this dress. I learned that gathering 5 3/4 yards of fabric requires hand basting, rather than machine basting. Trust me, it takes longer but in the long run it is easier to gather and control those gathers. And of course, I re-learned that you are never to old to make mistakes!

This whole experience made me do something I don't normally do: I went shopping for a dress. I just wanted a summer dress and I was out of energy to sew it. But of course you know what I found: cheaply made dresses that cost too much. I found one dress where I liked the style and the color, but it was crap. And still cost $ 70. That drove me back to looking at patterns and I found Simplicity 2360 which approximated the style of the crapily made dress. In addition, I saw a Ralph Lauren ad in a magazine of a dress that I wanted in a way that wasn't rational:

I can't find this dress for sale because you have to actually go to a Ralph Lauren store to find out if they will deign to let you buy it. I can't find a price on it either because if you have to ask, you can't afford it. I assume it is in the $ 500 to $ 700 price range as it is in their spring 2010 collection. And I assure you that I wouldn't pay that kind of money for a dress unless I was getting married in it.

So I am using the Ralph Lauen dress as inspiration, and I am combining it with the Simplicity pattern 2360 to come up with a summer dress. I ordered some wonderful pink Kaffe Fassett rayon fabric, but I decided to be smart about this and made a hopefully wearable muslin of this brand new pattern. I used a blue flowered rayon challis I had in my stash for several years. It was cheap, and I bought a lot of it, and made a summer dress out of half of it about six years ago. I was extra sensitive to the fact that this pattern requires very drapey fabric after the Horrockses disaster and rayon challis definitely fits the bill. I got this dress done last night and wore it to work today and Aimee took a photo:

I swear this dress is more flattering in real life than in this photo and I really like it. I like the lace, and the sash is from the prior 6 year old dress. The waist is elastic, and I've never made a dress with an elastic waist before. It was nice not having to put in a zipper. When I make this again in the pink fabric, I think I will made the elastic tighter, bringing in the waist more, and I'll make the version with short sleeves. I'll also take some of the flare out of the skirt, making it straighter and less A-line. This dress has a 30's aura about it, and without the sash, it is as comfortable as a nightgown. I'm looking forward to using the Kaffe Fassett fabric - it's rayon, but a tighter weave - no more challis for me for a while! Working with challis is like working with silk: a PITA to deal with, but lovely to wear.

Parting Shot: Also to soothe my weary soul, I made another feedsack skirt because I knew it would work. I like this one because the colors are so cheerful:

Has Anyone Seen My Mojo?????

2010-07-01T16:43:00.005-04:00

I had surgery on June 18th (nothing dire) and I can't believe how wiped out I have been ever since. So many thing are beyond my energy level: working, sewing, blogging, emailing, or reading. For a while there, I was concerned that my blackout on communication or any other human interaction was a symptom of laziness or selfishness or both, but now that I am coming out of my funk, I finally realized: I am profoundly exhausted. I didn't get it until now; sort of like you don't realize how bad a relationship is until you get out of it and then you look back and say to yourself, "Wow. That really sucked."

And because I have felt like hammered sh*t, I haven't sewed a stitch since VickiW's quilting birthday extravaganza. Until today. I made Mother some eyeglass cases, which I made in the simplest way possible:

Kinda pitiful, aren't they? I even used an old placemat I made years ago, so I didn't even have to fool with quilting some fabrics together. I just cut the placemat into 5.5 by 6.5 inch pieces, folded them lenghwise, sewed one side and the bottom, and turned them inside out. That was about all I could manage, and she is happy with them.

Fortunately, during my convalescence I had a book Anne got me for my birthday from the Victoria & Albert Museum during her last trip to our London office. Here's a link to the book. I poured over it for hours:

Horrockses Fashions made the-have-to-have dresses in Great Britain from 1946 to the late 50's and they are just my style. (No, I don't know how to pronounce "Horrockses" either.) When Mother and I were in London last August, we saw one of the Horrockses dresses in the V&A and she took a photo:

This is a pretty typical Horrockses dress. Bright, clear colors of all cotton, with a simple fitted bodice and a full skirt. They were all the rage in Great Britain post WWII and everyone wore them, from Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) right down to the office girls who saved their shillings to buy just one. While they weren't horribly expensive, post-war Britain was pretty austere, and for a young lady who worked as a teacher or nurse, they were seen as well worth scrimping for.

The book itself isn't particularly well written, and the author focuses mostly on the Horrockses' business model and marketing techniques, repeating herself often. The best part of the book for me were the photos showing the dresses and the young women wearing them, clearly thrilled with their acquisitions. Horrockses had it's own cotton mill that produced the fabric, and some girls who couldn't afford to buy the dresses bought the fabric and then sewed their own, like Beth Hartley who provided a photo for the book taken in 1955 that shows her wearing her handmade rendition of a Horrockses dress, and she says that every time she wore it, she thought she was the "bees knees". : )

I would have preferred more information on the dresses themselves: how were they constructed, what sewing techniques were used that gave Horrockses their reputation for a quality product, and how many yards of fabric were used for those skirts?

A lot of the dresses were sundresses or strapless dresses paired with a bolero jacket. Here is a typical dress from the book:

You can see that the insert photo is the same dress that Mother took the photo of in the V&A.

Here's another. A lot of the fabrics used had a stripe motif:

The one thing I was able to do while I laid in bed was imagine my own Horrockses dress, surfing the web incessantly looking for the perfect fabric. I've decided to make a sundress, using the bodice from a pattern I have used several times before, and pair it with an impossibly voluminous skirt, which will require gathering yards and yards of fabric. Whether I can attach such a skirt to a bodice with a 28 inch waist remains to be seen. And I have a bolero pattern from a vintage Advance pattern I have used before (but I only made the dress, not the bolero). And I finally found a vintage inspired fabric from Windham Fabrics that I think will work! But when this will all actually happen is dependent on that missing mojo. If you happen to see it, send it my way.

Feedsack Frenzy!

2010-05-31T13:26:00.002-04:00

A while ago Anne let me paw through her antique feedsack fabrics and pick out what I liked. I picked this unusual print because a) I had never seen feedsack printed with butterflies, and b) they were pink. By playing around with the placement of my TNT skirt pattern, I found I could get a skirt out of one feedsack:

Of course, you can't worry about a "with nap" layout. Here you can see that the back pieces are opposite from the front; the butterfiles are flying down instead of up:

I don't think anyone will notice. Or care. Also, I was concerned when I cut this out because I had to lay out the pattern pieces on the crosswise grain, rather than the lengthwise. I usually prefer to layout out on the lengthwise, so that the slight extra stretch in the crosswise grain goes horizonally around my body, given me that little extra give in the waist and hips. But even being on the crosswise grain, the skirt fits fine.

So I have great plans for all those feedsacks I bought at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival this year! (Except for today - my AC isn't working; why does the AC always conk out on a holiday when the expected high is 95 degrees????) They will all be turned into summer skirts which, I have found, never seem to wear out.

I, not suprisely, wore this skirt yesterday to Anne's family's annual Memorial Day fishing trip in the Chesapeake bay. The Carpenter went too, and you can see that he really loved the t-shirt VickiW tie-dyed for him which he got for his birthday:

Parting Shot: I caught a fish! Well, the Carpenter caught the fish - he just let me reel it in. I'm pictured with said fish and the first mate of the boat, Kenny.

A Great Day!

2010-05-16T20:23:00.006-04:00

It's my birthday today. My age doesn't end in a zero or a five, but it was an extra special birthday this year, all because friends made it so. Eileen, weeks before, gave me a fab purse which I haven't photographed because I'm, you know, using it. Thank God for my friends who can accessorize because somehow I missed that particular gene in my DNA. Eileen's speciality is purses, and now I have reaped the benefit of her talent.

Aimee, knowing of my admiration for the Selfish Seamstress, got me the "I just don't want to" t-shirt (in blue), the "you bloodsucking leech" mug, and the "glad I could help" tote! But her biggest gift was loaning me her brand new Toyota Highlander for the weekend while she was out of town so I could pick up Tammy from the airport. My Miata can transport two, but only if the only luggage involved is a carry-on. Tammy was flying in from Chicago for pleasure/work and she brought the big suitcase. It was by Aimee's magnificience that allowed me to squire Tammy around town.

And quite the time we had. There was shopping, there were manis and pedis, and there was definitely food! I loved having her all weekend:

And one of her gifts to me was this, which I can't wait to read: But the surprise of my life came from the new BF a/k/a the Carpenter who gave me a dining room table. Actually he made a dining room table.

This is a 7 and half foot (90 inch) trestle table made from solid cherry with no stain, and finished with teak oil.

I was stunned. About three years ago, I went to the oldest house in Glasgow, Scotland and saw a trestle table that I loved. I thought what a great idea for a sewing table - no legs to get in the way. I have a small townhouse, so I do everything on the dining room table - I eat and sew. So I became obsessed, of course. I looked at all kinds of testle tables. I consulted with my forester brother, who advised to go with cherry. And that it would be a sin to put stain on cherry wood. I found instructions on the web, and I tried to talk said brother to making me such a table, but no go. I found a furniture maker in New England who made them, but charged enough to buy a used car.

When I started dating the Carpenter, I enthusiastically shared my obsession with him, and it must have took. He showed up last night with this magnificient piece of furniture and I have never been so overwhelmed in my life. I cannot photograph it well enough to do it justice because it is just so beautiful, and well, long. Here is a shot of the breadboard at the end:

Some of the Carpenter's work:

I am humbled and overwhelmed. Is he a keeper or what????

Parting Shot: The Carpenter putting it all together at my house:

Burda's Heidi

2010-05-08T10:06:00.004-04:00

I finally made the Burda Heidi dress which Erin has made, like, fourteen of: I got it done in time for Anne's garden party in April. This was quite the experiment as I had never used a Burda pattern before. I decided to make size 38, since it seemed to be the closest to my measurements. I wanted to use this sky blue and white fabric, though, and I realized how reckless it was to be using fabric I paid $ 9.00 a yard as a muslin. But then I thought, Wait, I have a dress form! So I cut out the bodice lining first (yes, Vicki, I used the bed sheet for the lining) and tried it on my dress form. It looked okay:

So I proceeded to go forth and experience the World of Burda. After I had it cut out, I realized that I had NOT cut the bodice back or skirt back on the fold. DOH! But still, the dress form lining assured me that I had plenty of room in the bodice. I wasn't so sure about the skirt. I decided to continue forward.

I got the dress together despite Burda's instructions which I didn't use because they were unintelligible. Fortunately, I have made a skirt with these kinds of pockets before, or I would have been totally lost. Here is a photo of the dress on the dress form with the back seam only pinned:

Pinning the back on the dress form made me realize that a 5/8 inch seam in the back bodice wasn't going to do.

I ended up sewing a 7/8 inch seam at the top of the bodice, a 3/4 inch in the middle of the bodice, and a 5/8 inch seam when I hit the waist. By not cuting the bodice on the fold and by putting the 7/8 inch seam at the top, I figure that I took 2 and 1/4 inches out of the back of this dress and it is still big. Clearly, I don't wear a size 38 in Burda's sizing, despite what their sizing chart says.

Here is a close up of the pocket:

Here's a back view:

The busy print of the fabric doesn't really show the design lines of the dress. Another of the pocket:

One change I made was to take a small hem so as to lengthen the skirt about 5/8 inch so it would cover my knee. I like my skirts and dresses to either cover my knee or hit above the knee - right in the middle of the knee looks weird on me, like my skirt is too short.

This is the first garment I have ever made using my dress form and it kept this project from becoming a complete wadder. Without it, I would have never figured out where, and how much, to take it in. I decided that when I make it again, though, I need to start with a smaller size and basically begin from scratch - but then it dawned on me like a biblical revelation that I don't have to make it again. If I'm not totally in love with it there is no law that says I have to whip up another version. I think I subconsciously believe that I have to keep making a pattern until it fits perfectly. I think it is time to let that go!

Parting Shots: My yellow rose bush is in bloom! With all the rain we have had in the past year, it is particularly stunning. I don't know what variety it is, but the flowers have a sweet, spicy smell that just makes you want to stop and sniff the roses.

The Liverpool Dress

2010-04-08T20:44:00.002-04:00

It's not enough that I have made two tunics from this pattern, I decided to make the short dress as well! Instead of the three-quarter sleeves, I made the elbow length:

As I did with the last version, I shortened the back ties by five inches:

I also sewed the side seams at three-eights of an inch, rather than the half inch required by the instructions. This gave me an extra half inch of room all around, and while I didn't need that half inch in the waist or hips, it has made the bust area fit perfectly.

The funnest part of the dress was deciding how to lay it out. I used a batik quilt backing I got at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Show for $ 37, which had a border along each edge with solid black in the middle. I decided to lay out my pattern so that the top/bust area was the black, and the dress would get progressivly lighter as it went towards the hem. I used mostly black for the front placket, and I used the very edge of the border as the sleeve cuffs. This is what I had left after cutting out:

Still enough left over for a skirt! (But that is another day - maybe even another year!) I wore this dress Good Friday, and it doesn't wrinkle and it is extra cool. Have I mentioned I love this pattern? I still want to make one more version: the long dress version with no sleeves for summer. But I have decided it is time to take a break from this pattern and do something else. But I highly recommend it to others!

The Liverpool Tunic - Take Two

2010-04-05T18:41:00.002-04:00

I finally got photos of my second Liverpool Tunic; my photographer, Aimee graciously took these. I made this one from the Henry Alexander fabric I liked so much:

On this version, I shortened the back ties by five inches, and I like them much better:

I also dispensed with the covered buttons, and just used regular buttons this time. I was able to get the collar oriented correctly so the top collar and outer stand were the ones that were interfaced. And I finally figured out the proper way to do the cuffs which were such a mystery to me last time. Now the sleeves are at the proper length, so ignore everything I said in my first review of this pattern. I omitted the buttons and button loops on the cuffs; I don't think it needs it and they are just a PITA. The one thing I did differently from the directions was to topstich the top of the cuff. Here is a photo in which you can see that I topstiched the bottom of the cuff (nearest to the wrist) as per the instructions, but I just went ahead and topstiched the top of the cuff as well, so as to save ironing time:

I really love this pattern, I have gone ahead and made the short dress version, which I'll post about soon.

Parting Shot: Happy Easter!!! Beautiful tulips sent to me from Eileen for Easter. They made my day!

Happy Holy Week

2010-03-31T20:08:00.003-04:00

I didn't plan on giving up blogging for Lent, but I guess I did. Before Ash Wednesday, I considered it, but decided it wasn't necessary. So I am amused that God has seen fit to make my life inconducive to blogging during these six weeks! I could point to a lot of ordinary life events that would excuse the lack of blogging, but they really wouldn't be the reason - something spiritual is afoot and I can't wait to see the fruits of God's labor.

As for sewing, not much has gone on there either, although there has been some. I'll get photos tomorrow of the latest Liverpool Tunic, and I am currently working on a dress from the same Liverpool pattern, made from the batik quilt back I got at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show. For some reason, getting the collar on that dress has been the challenge of my life, even though this is the third time I have sewn up this pattern. I need to move onto to something else and that something else is already picked out: my first Burda pattern.

Meanwhile, my goal of learning to knit has come along nicely. I'm knitting Debbie Bliss' Pleated Wrap in her Spring/Summer 2009 magazine. This is what I have so far:

You can see where my knitting was somewhat tight in the beginning, got considerably looser, but now has settled at the (hopefully) appropriate gauge. (You can also see where my knitting got a bit wrinkled in my knitting bag - it's been awhile since I worked on this as well.) Here is a close up:

I'm pretty pleased with the pleated part. It's an easy pattern Eileen turned me onto, and the yarn is Debbie Bliss as well; a cotton/bamboo blend. It feels fabulous!

This project will provide a lot more practice on knitting, purling, short rows, and endless counting - the wrap is to be nearly six feet long when finished! I've cycled through three sets of needles on this project already: bamboo, aluminum, and now circular. Knitting requires as much stash "stuff" as sewing!

Speaking of knitting, Loy turned Eileen and me onto to a great knitting blog, Mason-Dixon Knitting. Be sure to watch the gas commercial, and then be sure to watch the making of the gas commerical. Really cool!

Quilt Show!

2010-02-26T20:39:00.003-05:00

Back from the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival! VickiW, Anne, and I pilgrimaged to Hampton, VA despite the cold windy weather to see the treasures. Exhausted, but happy. Got to meet Mary. Got to see Summerset's Garden Path which won the Judge's Choice award. Got to shop. Here is the haul:

That black batik underneath everything is actually 2 yards of a 108 inch quilt back. A large portion of it is solid black - this photo shows the border part, mostly. This is going to become a dress, or maybe two. Also pictured are 24 fat quarters of brown and pink fabrics (love that color combination), 6 antique feedsacks, 10 rotary cutter blades, and 1 surgerical seam ripper. I didn't discover until I got home that one of the feedsacks is still a sack; the seams haven't been let out of it yet. I guess I'll be able to use that seam ripper right away. : )

I admit I went a little overboard on the feedsacks. But I have plans for them. Last year Anne gave me a couple of feedsacks and I found they make the most excellent skirts. I've made two. If I cut out the skirt pattern on the cross grain instead of the lengthwise grain, I can get a whole skirt made from one feedsack (I still need to get a photo of the skirts I made but it has been so cold and my photographer is out of town). Now I also admit that 7 or 8 feedsack skirts might be a bit much, but I tell you that skirts made out of this fabric do not wear out. I can see why women used them to make children's clothes - they might outgrow them, but they would never wear out!

Finally, I got a yard of this indonesian fabric just because I liked it:

It was a great day. Anne asked, "Why can't every day be like today?" I couldn't have agreed more.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

2010-02-15T14:34:00.002-05:00

When the gray sky dome descends upon us in November and doesn't often rise until March or April, I understand there are some people who get depressed, but not me. Nothing makes my blood race more than a cool fall day, with dry dead rustling leaves, wood smoke in the air, and imminent frost. That is because I know winter is coming, and I love winter. I love being wrapped in cashmere, and cooking hearty soups and stews, and baking sweetbreads and cookies. I love Christmas too, along with a cheerful fire on the hearth, hot tea, and feeling all warm and cozy inside.

No, for me, SAD kicks in during our wretched southern summers. I get weary of the same old weather forecast in July of the three H's: hot, hazy, and humid. When I wake in the dim light of a summer morning, and the temperature is already above 80 degrees, I want to pull the covers over my head and never emerge. Invariably, the forecast is for 93 degrees with 90% humidity with a 30% chance of rain, but it never does. I get tired of being hot wearing any clothes at all, much less anything with sleeves, and I feel sticky and itchy the entire day until I sink into a cool bath at night. On my way to work in the morning, the pavement is already radiating heat waves, and I am so tempted to just drive north until I find a New England seaside town where they do not build their houses with air conditioning. Once at work, the difference between the outside temp and the inside air conditioning can vary as much as 25 degrees, so I am alternately sweaty and freezing everywhere I go. Maybe this is why Scotland is my preferred vacation destination: I am thoroughly sick of our relentless summers.

Except this year.

This year after two feet of snow, most of which is still in my yard, I now understand why people from up north take cruises in February and March. If they didn't, they would just stay in bed or drive south until they found people who say things like, "I've never seen snow," and don't build their houses with heat. I now understand why Yankees retire to Florida. I now understand why Summerset created "Garden Path" while experiencing a frigid northern winter. Last month my electric bill was the highest ever, and I don't know how much more I can stand. My skin never feels warm, and I don't want to get up in the morning. It's either snowing or raining, and I don't remember when the temperatures last exceeded 40 degrees.

So bring on daylight savings time and the daffodils and Easter Sunday! Where spring was once dreaded, it is now longed for. I welcome the tulips and St. Patrick's Day and your new barbeque grills. I propose we all go on spring break, together. Bring your sewing machines.

Use Your Linen Closet As A Stash!

2010-02-12T23:29:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting to make a basic white blouse for awhile, but as usual I just hadn't gotten around to it. In keeping with my normal proclivity to make summer stuff during winter, and winter stuff during summer, I felt I just had to make a sleeveless white shirt that I could wear during the hottest of days. I've only made one blouse in my sewing career, and that was this one, about two years ago. I really like this one; in cooler weather, I wear it with a red cardigan. I picked the fabric up at a LQS a couple of years ago, and I also made a skirt from the same fabric, so when I wear them together, it's like a two piece dress. Here's the pattern I used, McCalls 2094:

The fact that I have only used this pattern once is pretty unusual since I like to make patterns over and over again (if they work). I made this in a size 12, straight up, and I love the loose way it fits.

The problem with making the white shirt was that I wanted exactly the right fabric. The hand of the fabric is paramount, as the feel of it is as important, if not more so, than the look. I didn't wanted to order any fabric online because you really can't tell what white fabric is like, and of course, you can't feel it. I also couldn't find anything locally. I was starting to regret not buying some of the Italian cottons I saw at the Philadelphia Quilt Expo from the vendor that sold me the cashmere/mink fabric.

The fabric I really wanted to use was pinpoint cotton. It's my favorite and I love it so much that I sleep on it:

I found this sheet in the linen closet and you can see that it is for a double size bed. I haven't had a double size bed in my house since 2004, so I can only imagine that I saved the flat and fitted sheet simply because I loved the fabric. I must have figured I would eventually do something with it.

The fitted sheet wouldn't do; it was so worn out that it was shredded in places. But the flat sheet, which sees less wear, was perfect. It had been washed hundreds of times and was as soft as you could have wished. And it was free!

I'm not as thrilled with the look of the blouse as I am with the feel. It feels great. But the softness makes it look rumpled, and it wrinkles if you so much as look at it. Here's a close up of the side detail:

I have a feeling this will be a Saturday blouse - one of those cool shirts I put on in the summer on a Saturday morning that I will love when it is 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity. I won't care that it isn't crisp looking and wrinkle free. It will be comfortable!

Parting Shot: It snowed in Cotton Creek, AL today! Here is Daddy in all his craziness standing in the beginning of the snowfall about seven in the morning. Without shoes, of course:

Tunic or Dress?

2010-02-07T21:42:00.002-05:00

Ye old yardstick this morning registered six inches of snow. And I found shoveling six inches of snow infinitely easier than shoveling a foot a week ago. So I was able to venture forth, after much tire spinning, to Joyce's where I found this on sale at 30% off. It's "Yen Rose" by Alexander Henry fabrics and the photos don't do the cheerful red color justice:

It begged to come home with me. I thought perhaps it would make a good dress from The Liverpool Tunic pattern. I orginally bought some forties inspired fabric to make the short dress with elbow length sleeves, but I'm drawn to this fabric even more. But I can't decide whether to use this fabric to make another tunic, or to make the short dress version. On the one hand, I can start wearing the tunic sooner, as the dress would have to wait until spring weather. On the other hand, I could wear the dress for more months of the year. But it would make an awfully cute tunic, though. I can't decide. Feel free to comment, and it will help me figure out what I really want to do. : )

I spent my snowy weekend finishing a shirt which I'll show you later this week when my photographer is available. And I started my first real knitting project. I'll photograph that when there is enough knitted to get excited about.

Parting shot: This is an all-to-familar scene on my back deck this winter.

My New Favorite Skirt

2010-02-05T15:52:00.005-05:00

One of the things on my to-do list was to make a skirt this winter from the cashmere/mink fabric I bought at the Philadelphia Quilt Expo last fall. I procrastinated on this project for two reasons: marking darts on black wool (even as wonderful as this piece of fabric) is a PITA, and I was going to line it in silk, which also takes more time. But this fabric's wonderfulness is in how it feels. I wish this blog had touch-a-vision, because I have never worked with a more luxurious piece of fabric in my life. Or a more expensive. I saved the receipt and I can tell you I paid $ 88 for a single yard of this fabric. But I finally got it done and photographed this week:

These photos weren't taken until the end of the day, so of course the skirt is wrinkled a bit. It was glorious wearing it though. I've never felt a softer bit of wool, ever.

While this was a tried and true pattern, I did a few things simply because this fabric deserved it. First, I finished the waist facing edge with a strip of silk, Hong Kong style. Normally, when I am making a summer version of the skirt I just serge the waist facing edge or use the overlock stitch on my sewing machine. But I wanted this to look nicer. Here is the waist facing after I attached the strip of silk but before I sewed it to the waist:

To do this, I cut my strip of silk on the straight grain one inch wide. I attached it to the front of the facing with a quarter inch seam, wrapped it to the back, and then stitched in the ditch on the front of the facing, thus catching the silk wrapped in the back. Here is a shot of the facing on the back:

I briefly thought about cutting my silk strips on the bias, but I'm glad I didn't. This silk was slippery enough without adding bias to it.

Next, I gave the hemline the same seam allowance treatment. Here is the hem:

Next, I actually took the time to make 2 pattern pieces for the lining. The only tissue paper I had was some birthday paper with color dots, but it worked:

The only thing different about the lining pattern pieces from the garment pattern pieces is that I eliminated the 1 1/4 inch hem at the bottom, and I only marked the top legs of the darts. I don't sew the darts in my linings - I just make tucks in the lining where the darts in the garment are located.

By the way, the lining fabric is some fabulous silk VickiW gave me when she was cleaning out her garment fabric stash a couple of years ago. There was a goodly amount of it, and I am still using it for my skirts!

I handstiched the hem to the silk lining and in this photo you can see how it looks:

Here's a shot of the inside front of the skirt which shows you the lining and the facings. I didn't sew the edge of the waist facing to the lining and I probably won't.

Here's the back:

Dealing with linings like this that aren't free hanging are always more fiddly. You want to make sure the silk lining doesn't sag, but you don't want it too tight or it will make the skirt hang wonky. And then you have to unsew the hem, adjust the lining more loosely, and then hem again. I had to do this once in the front, but otherwise it hemmed up just fine. Because of this, I'm leaving the waist facing alone - it looks fine and it fits fine. No reason to mess with it!

Usually when I make this skirt from cotton I can get it done in 3 hours, and that includes cutting out. This version took about 7 to 8 hours. Extra work, but I know I will love wearing it, which is why most of us love to sew - you get the fine quality fabric in the color and style you want!

Parting Shot: Here we go again. The forecast is for 8 to 12 inches of snow this weekend. This is what it looks outside my back window:

Do I really live in the South? Hope you are staying warm!

Big Snow! (Again)

2010-01-31T19:39:00.003-05:00

We had a snow storm yesterday, and I waited until nine o'clock this morning to start shoveling the drive as it had then warmed up to a balmy 14 degrees F. This is what greeted me as the garage door opened:

I shoveled in stages; after I got half the driveway done, I stopped and listened. It was unbelievably quiet and I was surprised by that. I expected to hear kids outside playing in the snow, or at least hear dogs romping around in it. Nothing. Nada. I walked out of the neighborhood until I reached the main four lane road, and I stood in the middle of it for nearly five minutes and not a single car came by. It was quieter than a Sunday morning; quieter than Christmas morning, even.

I walked around the neighborhood and took some photos, but not many because I felt as if I couldn't do the beauty justice; I would never be able to capture it as it was. I met some feral cats. I finally met a man with an empty leash looking for his dog who had uncharacteristically run away in the snow, and I thought, "Smart dog." He was the only one enjoying the snowy morning the way it should be celebrated. I'm glad I got the chance to stand in the middle of it and listen.

Parting Shot: To shovel in 14 degrees I wore my fleece jammy pants under my kilt. I wore an icelandic sweater Eileen knitted for me several years ago, and a knitted cap I got in Unst year before last. At this point, my neighbors aren't the least bit surprised by anything I wear. : )

Another Project Crossed Off the To-Do List

2010-01-26T20:43:00.004-05:00

I can't call this UFO # 3 because it's not a quilty finish, but still. I finished making my mother's kitchen curtains this weekend. On Christmas Day I made her curtains from Robert Kaufman's "Confections" collection for her country kitchen. I loved the cherries on this fabric because they are so cheerful, but the LQS didn't have enough for both windows, so I just made one: When I got back to Richmond, I found the fabric on ebay (gotta love the internet!) and ordered more. Obviously it isn't hard to make two rectangles of fabric for curtains, but it is somewhat of a challenge to make them identical. I took good notes in Cotton Creek though, and made these new ones while I watched Brett Favre go for the Super Bowl. I had some fabric leftover, so I whipped up a pillowcase for me because I needed one and I do like the fabric. Here are the curtains (all folded up - nothing to see here) and the pillowcase.

Ironically, while I was sewing these, I got a phone call from an acquaintance wanting to know if I sew for others. She explained that she and her mother had recently bought fabric for new curtains for her kitchen, but they needed someone to make them for her. Having recently read the "Selfish Seamstress" I was prepared to tell her "no" in a calm and forthright manner, but I am less experienced in rejection, and I lack the fortitude of the Selfish Seamstress. Instead, I told her "no" but I was very happy to teach her how to sew, and she could just bring the fabric with her and we could make the curtains together . . . No, she wasn't interested in that. So I emphasized that my sewing lessons were free. No, she wasn't interested in that either. She really is a lovely person, and I like her a lot, but my guilt was assuaged by the fact that she wasn't willing to put in the time and stand beside me while I basically made them for her in the form of a first lesson.

Of course, the truth is I do sew for others, but only for family who share my DNA and close friends. If I won't sew for you for free, I won't do it for money either. Sewing is my hobby, not my job!

I spent Saturday working on a new skirt with the cashmere/mink fabric I bought at the Philadelphia Quilt Expo. I absolutely love working with this fabric, and I am afraid it has ruined me for everything else. I'll show you when it's done. Hope you are having a great week!

UFO # 2

2010-01-21T19:12:00.005-05:00

Last weekend I finished binding the Heartstrings Quilt. I really enjoyed this quilt - it was easy, used up lots of scraps, and it has great visual impact. I got the idea of putting the red half inch strips on either side of the brown strip in each block from Melva whose quilt blocks were photographed on Mary's Heartstrings blog.

The hardest part of this quilt has been photographing it, as it keeps raining. Or it is dark when I get home from work. Here are some not such great shots outside:

Susan Caldwell picked a good thread color because it looks light on the dark fabrics and dark on the light fabrics:

Given that this is such a geometrical quilt, I wanted sort of a geometrical quilting pattern. I picked a baptist fan variation panto that provided a curved counterpoint to the straight line strip piecing:

Unfortunately, I don't remember what the pantograph is called. But the above photo is a shot of the back.

I had originally planned to give this quilt away; I envisioned it as a man's quilt. But now that I have it done, I can't give it up. It is full of my former projects - there are scraps of dresses I made for me and my mother, scraps from skirts, and shirts, and quilts, usually given to others. Maybe it is because it is my first real scrap quilt, but I just can't let it go. So I'm keeping it, and I have named it "A Man's Heartstrings". It is a substantial weight quilt, due to the muslin foundation of the squares, and it has been keeping me warm every night since I got this done. After reading the Selfish Seamstress blog, I'm trying not to feel guilty about keeping it. : )

Parting Shot: Look what I knitted at my first lesson!

After the very first stitch, it all came back to me, and I just knitted away as if it hadn't been 38 years since I had picked up a knitting needle. How could this be, I wondered? "Muscle memory," said Laura, our fab instructor and knitter extraordinaire. Next week we get to learn to purl!

It's Hip To Knit!

2010-01-12T21:11:00.003-05:00

My friend Eileen has worn me down; she has convinced me to learn how to knit. I am rather suspicious of all of this. Maybe she wants me to share in the joys of knitting. Maybe she wants me to join her and Loy as they knit through Scotland and other exotic locales like Doylestown, PA. Maybe she is just tired of knitting me sweaters. And maybe, here's a thought, she wants me to start knitting for her. "Learning by doing" is Eileen's motto. Hmm, I think I am onto something.

Regardless of evil motives, I'll have my first lesson next week at The Yarn Lounge. I learned to knit in first grade, but I can't say I've done much since I was seven years old. It'll all come back to me, right?

As I declared 2010 the year of the UFO, I finished this quilt for my Prayer Sister Donna this weekend. All it needed was the binding and label:

I can honestly say I didn't finish it a minute before I needed it, as I bought the pattern almost three years ago. Here's a shot of Susan Caldwell's machine quilting - she did an all over floral design:

I pieced the binding from the sashing fabrics which included the striped fabric and the tone-on-tone green fabric.

I won't show the label; I have the most inelegant labels in the whole quilting world. I would love to be one of those quilters who showed as much care in the label as with the quilt, but by the time I get to the label, I have so moved on. They end up being scrawled with a permanent marker on a scrap of muslin. I'm just happy there's a label on it.

It's amazing how quilting seems to change a quilt top. Now that it is done, I think this is a sweet little quilt that I really like. It seems so 1920's to me, and it is currently draped over the end of my bed. I better get this to Donna soon before it ends up on my bed permanently.

Parting Thought: The Richmond Esty Street Team is sponsoring a Craft Swap on Sunday, Janaury 31, 2010 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. You can read about it here. I see this an excellent opportunity to donate fabric, quilting books, and notions that I'll never use and someone else might value. And I'll meet other crafters here in Richmond! My friend April Scott will be there - join us!

UFOs - Friend or Foe?

2010-01-01T15:09:00.011-05:00

I'm back from my parent's house in Alabama, where we had a very nice Christmas. Christmas, incidentally, is still going on! Christmas is not a day; it is a season. It lasts twelve days. (Hence, "The Twelve Days of Christmas".) The first day of Christmas is December 25th, and the twelfth day is the Feast of the Epiphany, on January 6th, where the visit of the Magi is celebrated. Thus, my decorations stay up until after sunset of the 6th of January!

I took a few photos of downtown Cotton Creek, AL. This is facing north: This is a shot facing east:

You can see that it is a hotbed of activity. Our traffic light blinks yellow in one direction and red in the other; we aren't big enough to warrant a green light. Here is the gas station where the truckers, hunters, and loggers stop for breakfast and dinner (i.e. lunch):

Here is a shot facing west, and the crazy man with the hat on his head, dressed in shorts with no shoes, is my 73 year old father:

It was about 38 degrees when these photos were taken. Daddy believes walking in chilly weather with no shoes makes him eccentric, but I told him only rich people can be eccentric; as it is, he is merely crazy:

A typical local barn:

One of the laurel oaks that must be a hundred years old:

The only other store in Cotton Creek whose owner is my second cousin once removed (I think):

The church, whose steeple has been blown off by lightning more times than I can count:

This pretty much says it all:

Finally, this is my parent's house. It is the white one:

It was built by my great, great grandfather, Warren Payne, in 1918. It's a typical old house, with no central heat or air conditioning, or anything much modern. Several, but not all of the rooms, have gas heaters that you light with a match and pray that you don't blow yourself up or burn the house down. I don't touch them. I like sleeping in a house built by one of my ancestors; it feels friendly and very right, but I will note that my mother comes to visit me frequently in VA. I think she likes staying in a modern home with central heat and no mice!

Of course, today is that time of year when folks start thinking about resolutions. I don't make resolutions, but I do make "goals". My sewing goals last year were three:

1. Make myself a quilt for my bed;

2. Make a heartstrings quilt; and

3. Make a double wedding ring quilt.

I did all three and had a great time doing them all. The double wedding ring is only pieced, not quilted, but I count it as done, given that I'm not doing the quilting!

So, of course, I have been thinking of what my goals for 2010 should be. One of my goals is to visit my friends more. A friend died very recently and I attended the memorial service today. Given that people that I know, who are my age, are dying, has brought home the fact that nothing is more important than friends and the time to visit them is now. So I plan to inflict my presence on the following:

1. One visit will be to Susan and Ron. Their kids are now teenagers and they must be weary of them, so maybe my visit would be welcome, or at least tolerated. I swear that Susan's Beef Wellington recipe is no inducement. No, really.

2. A visit southward to Mark and Cynthia. They have 2 year old twins and don't go anywhere these days. I believe they would love a visit from an adult from the outside.

3. Another visit southward to George and Pam whom I haven't seen in ten years. It's time to remedy that.

4. A visit northward to Laura and Dan. You get a couple of glasses of wine in Laura and you can get her to tell the squirrel story. No better entertainment than that.

5. Nearby to Laura and Dan, a visit to Laurie and Marty, the wonderful parents of my godson. I need to visit so he remembers what I look like. Maybe I should take him, like, a gift or something.
6. And of course, another visit to Glen and Tammy!

So beware, dearest friends, I am coming, and I like to eat!

Sewingwise, I have decided that 2010 is the year of the UFO. It is my sincere goal to finish some of the quilty UFOs hanging around. I think UFO's are like unfinished homework, they just drag down on your creativity. I'll discuss my list in a separate post, but my own rules for finishing UFOs are:

1. If you give the UFO away, unfinished, for someone else to finish or use in anyway they see fit, that counts as finished.

2. If you finish the UFO as something other than intended, for example, an unfinished quilt becomes a finished wall hanging, it counts as finished.

3. If you get the courage to just throw it away, it counts as finished. You have made a decision upon it and you no longer need to take action. I doubt I would ever do this, however, but we will see.

All of this applies to quilting projects only, and I am free to continue to start and stop as many garment projects as I wish. They don't take near as long, and frankly, I like wearing the clothes. Speaking of which, over Christmas I did show Melanie at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe my tunic that I made from fabric from her shop - a lot of fun! I also bought from her some fabric to make some curtains for Mother's kitchen. After 25 years, Daddy finally "got around" to painting the kitchen. I used a white fabric with cherries on it by Robert Kaufman called "Confections". I thought it looked very "county kitchen".

I hope you and yours are having a wonderful holiday season. What are your goals for 2010???? Do UFOs make you crazy, or do you peacefully co-exist?

Big Snow!

2009-12-19T10:25:00.001-05:00

We've gotten so much snow that our neighborhood snowplow guy is using a CAT bulldozer to clear the streets!

My back deck: Of course, this means that my flight to Cotton Creek, Alabama has been SO cancelled. I won't get home until late, late tomorrow, at best. I would estimate that 10 to 12 inches have fallen so far, with about 6 more forecast for today and tonight. But I am happy for this "rest" day, although I don't know how much rest will be involved. If I want to leave the house tomorrow, there is going to have to be a heap of shoveling of the drive.

I haven't decided whether there will be sewing today, or what kind: work on bindings or start something new?? Don't know, but I love having the time on hand to decide!

Parting Shot: My neighbor is getting the jump on the shoveling. Think I could talk him to coming over to my house????

The Liverpool Tunic

2009-12-15T20:59:00.007-05:00

I was in Cotton Creek, Alabama last week, unexpectedly, due to some surgery my mother had; she's recovering nicely, and we are all very grateful. But while I was there, I did visit a great quilt shop I have blogged about before, the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe located on highway 231 in Ozark, Alabama. Melanie has so many bolts of fabric, and lots of samples that just make you want to sew. I browsed quite a bit there and came across Amy Bulter's new pattern, called "The Liverpool". I bought it on the spot and when I came home I made it up in Amy Bulter's fabric called "Daisy Chain": Here is my "model" shot:

Here's Amy's pattern:

I'm amused that after ranting about the uselessness of tunics here, I was overcome by the cuteness of this pattern photo and was possessed to make it. The pattern wasn't cheap ($ 15), but it comes in multiple sizes, with multiple lengths. You can make a shirt, the tunic, a short dress, and long dress. And there are four different sleeve lengths: short, elbow length, three-quarters, and long sleeves. Given the options and the price, I actually traced out the version I wanted to make: the three quarters sleeves with the tunic length. For the first time, I used regular tissue paper for the tracing since I was in Cotton Creek and that is what I had on hand. It worked well. I used blue painters tape to tape the original pattern pieces to my parents' hundred year old table, and then I taped the tissue paper over it. All this taping made sure nothing moved when I was tracing - you can get away with not taping for smaller pattern pieces, but for the large ones, go ahead and tape.

When I got back to Virginia, I cut out the pattern and began sewing, nearly right away. The instructions were thorough, and deliberately so. I wouldn't recommend this pattern to a rank beginner though, unless she had a class or a teacher to help her through it. I got to try several new things on this project; for example, this is the first collar I have ever made that had a collar stand. Also, this is the first shirt I have made with a separate cut placket for the buttonholes and buttons. And these sleeves are first I have ever put in flat (with the exception of some men's shirts I have made). Finally, these are the first covered buttons I have ever made. Here is a close up of the shirt which shows the colors more true:

I will say that my first collar with a collar stand will not win any awards for construction - I need more practice to make it look neater. The instructions on the collar and stand were maddenly vague: instead of identifying an upper collar or undercollar, or upper stand or inner stand, the instructions talked about "the first collar". Well, which is the "first collar"? I couldn't figure out which collar and stand should be interfaced from the instructions, and which shouldn't, and I got the stand backwards (the inner stand ended up interfaced, when the outer should have been, in my opinion).

The other area where the instructions could have been better was the construction of the cuffs and the button loops. Some illustrations would have been helpful; I have no idea if I did them correctly, and just did what I thought would work.

If you make this pattern, be advised there are two mistakes: 1) in Step 11 A you should press your seam allowance towards the cuff, not the sleeve, and 2) in Step 15, you should make your buttonholes on the right placket and put the buttons on the left placket.

On the upside, I LOVED putting in the sleeves in flat before you sew up the side seams. Much, much easier, and I will be doing that from now on. This technique may make me lose my dislike of sleeves!

I didn't know until I bought the pattern that there were ties in the back. Here is a photo:

The ties are really just a design feature; they have no effect on fit. The tunic is nicely shaped with six darts in the front and two darts in the back. In my opinion the ties are too long and heavy; next time I make this, I will probably shorten them by about five inches. Also, the three-quarter length sleeves seem very long on me. I've never seen myself as having short arms, but I think the three-quarter length should be about 2 inches shorter.

I was surprised that the fit was somewhat snug in the bust. The tunic fit fine in the waist and hips (you can see that I am wearing it over jeans), but it is a tad tight in the bust. I don't usually have this problem! My body measurements are those indicated for the small size - I wondered if I made my bust darts too generous. I don't think so, but next time I make it, I'll alter the bust area a bit to make it less tight. (I added a snap between the first and second button, just to make sure nothing comes apart at an inopportune moment.) I am excited to make this again as the short dress version with the elbow length sleeves as a summer dress, possible in a forties era print . . . My mind is boggling at the possibilties!

How Do You Solve A Sewing Problem Like Maria??

2009-11-28T17:03:00.002-05:00

Maria came over to sew today and we had the best time. Maria doesn't have a lot of sewing experience, but she can run a sewing machine and isn't intimidated by it. She decided she wanted to make her mother some placemats for Christmas after seeing mine I made from "The New Handmade" by Cassie Barden. She wanted these placemats to be Christmas-y, but also be appropriate to use after Christmas was long gone. We choose a scenic winter print and a snowflake fabric for the front:

And we went with a red for the back: While this is technically a print of a poinsetta, the red and gold fabric can be used year round, and Maria's mother LOVES red. She can just flip the placemats over when winter is gone and use the red side. Maria did a great job and I believe her mother will love them.

Maria's mother is Italian. Really Italian. She is a fascinating woman. She was arrested at the age of 16 on the steps of her church, accused of assisting the French Resistance during WWII. She was guilty of exactly what she was accused of: she translated for the French Resistance since she spoke Italian, French, and German. She convinced the arresting authorities that she really didn't know German, so instead of being summarily shot, she was sent to a concentration labor camp in Germany for three years. She was liberated on Easter Sunday, 1945. She's well into her eighties now, and whenever Maria brings her mother to Mass, the Italian nuns from the nearby convent crowd her wheelchair like she is a rock star, all speaking rapid Italian, all joyful to see her.

Parting Shot: I think Maria liked her quilt!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T16:59:00.005-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving; I certainly did. I traveled to Arlington, VA to spend Thanksgiving with my friends with whom I spend every Thanksgiving. Not only are they wonderful people (and one of their kids is my godson), but two of the brothers are professional chefs. And their mother isn't bad either. No, really, I go for the fellowship - but yeah, the food is outstanding.

This year the dessert table was a sumptous as the meal. For dessert we had: chocolate cake, chocolate pie, pumpkin cake, pumpkin pie, pineapple upside down cake, and the best in my estimation: a cheesecake made by chef Thor (yes, his name is Thor, and he is the godfather to my godson). He made this heavenly cheesecake with a chocolate chip cookie crust, and topped it with raspberries. It was so good, I nearly ripped the refrigerator door off this afternoon trying to get to the leftovers.

One of Thor's sisters sews and has an etsy shop. Her name is April Scott and her shop is here. If you have a young daughter or granddaughter, check it out; she makes the cutest dresses ever. And I'm all about the dresses!

Tomorrow I get to see one of my friends and Prayer Sisters, Maria. She's coming over to sew, or learn to sew and I am going to be able to give her this: It only took me nearly three years to get it done! I last wrote about this little quilt here, and I had Susan Caldwell do some custom quilting on it, since Maria has had to wait so long. Here is some of Susan's custom work:

Here's what she did with the border:

I hope Maria likes it; I know she loves the colors, but she hasn't seen it complete.

I also hope everyone gets to sew this weekend! I prefer to spend time with the Bernina than go to any sale . . .

Double Wedding Ring Quilt Pieced!

2009-11-22T21:15:00.003-05:00

This weekend I finally finished piecing the Double Wedding Ring Quilt. And after ten months of working on this diabolical quilt pattern, I feel like it should be . . . bigger. According to John Flynn's instructions this quilt with the 18 inch rings set four across and five down will finish at 54 1/2 inches by 66 3/4 inches. I don't know what quilt he is talking about; the effort I put into this should result in a quilt 120 x 140 inches at least! : ) Here are some close ups:

These aren't the best photos - they were taken last night on my kitchen floor. (You can enlarge them by clicking on them.) But I will say that the quilt came out as envisioned. I wanted the arcs to be black and white, but not too black - I wanted the black squares to stand out from the arc.

I learned a lot on this quilt. Curved piecing for one. I was nearly paralyzed when it came to putting the rings into rows and then sewing the rows together because I knew I wasn't going to be able to do it perfectly. But I finally decided done was better than perfect, and it was time to just do it. It's not perfect, but my confidence has grown just by the fact I was able to get this quilt put together - I feel like I could sew any quilt pattern after this.

I'm glad I got this together before year end. Piecing this quilt was one of my goals for 2009, and I didn't want 2010 to find me still piecing away. I want new goals for 2010!

Now turning my attention to Christmas projects . . . I don't mean to alarm you, but Christmas is about four weeks away!!!

It's My Blog-Aversary!

2009-11-08T18:52:00.002-05:00

I realized that I have been blogging for one year today! Here was my very first post. And in honor of this auspicious occasion, I made a cupcake of the pincushion kind. The pattern is from Cindy Talyor Oats that I got at my LQS. Making pincushions seems all the rage lately and Quilting Adventures even had the ground-up-fine walnut shells for the filling which are supposed to be better than sand for your pins, but I don't know why. The pattern was fairly easy to follow except for the parts where they tell you to press the seams. How??? You are dealing with a two inch circumference on this project. At any rate, the pincushion works great.

I want to sincerely thank all of you that read my little blog (hi Mother!). I have enjoyed it very much and I surprised myself by realizing that this is my 61st post in a year. There are several of you that I feel I have gotten to know through your blogs, and even though I'm not a big commenter (sorry about that), please know that I am lurking and enjoying everything you do and write about. I'm excited about so much more in the year to come!

A Finish!

2009-10-25T20:21:00.003-04:00

I finished piecing the Heartstrings quilt this weekend and I couldn't be more thrilled. Here is the whole thing: I've had this quilt knocking around in my head since the beginning of this year, and it was like I was on a mission to bring it into reality. I envisioned it as a man's quilt, so I used the brown strips, set off by the red half inch strips on either side. I also used fabrics I thought as "manly", like those depicting nature (leaves, trees, animals), along with fabrics from shirts, or those that look like they were from old shirts. Some of the fabrics I had left over from making shirts for friends, like Glen. Some of the fabrics were from four or five old shirts destined for Goodwill or the garbage. Here is one of the shirts I used after I cut the back out of it for strips:

Looks pretty funny with no back! But I found the back of a size large man's shirt provided a good size piece of fabric perfect for cutting strips with the rotary cutter. After making this quilt top, I have discovered that I am looking at men's shirts in a whole new way: Friday at work I was eyeing a co-worker's shirt he had on, thinking, "that shirt would look good in a quilt"! You can't just ask a man for his shirt, especially if you tell him you want to cut it up. I'll have to keep my eye open for shirts at Goodwill in the future.

I originally envisioned putting brown borders on this quilt, but having sewn the blocks together, I like it just the way it is above, with no borders. I'll use the same red fabric to bind it, and I think it will be perfect. (One thing I did notice about this quilt is that I seemed to end up with MORE fabric strips in my stash after I finished the quilt than when I started. Anyone else have this problem?!!!!)

The quilt will finish 54 inches x 72 inches, and it is a small enough size that I actually considered quilting it myself on my Bernina. But then I remembered I wasn't crazy. Susan Caldwell is currently quilting two customized lap quilts for me, so when I pick them up, I'll drop this one off. I also originally planned to give this quilt away, but I like it so much, I might just have to keep it. I think I'll call it "A Man's Heartstrings".

Parting Shots: I went to the Celtic Festival today and I got what I usually get: muddy boots.

I don't know why, but every year I go, we seem to have Scottish weather, cool and windy, with rain the day before. The bluster makes the festival feel authentic. I also got what you always get at fairs: junk food. It's not a festival without Kettle Corn!

I Got A Present!

2009-10-20T20:56:00.005-04:00

My friend Loy made me this necklace and sent it to me week before last. I found the rock at St. Bee's Beach in northwest England, where we visited in May of 2007. The photo doesn't do the necklace or the rock justice - the smooth rock, right from the Irish Sea, is a deep, smooth green color, and Loy drilled a hole in it and suspended it from the copper thingy. She did a fabulous job, and you can read about her work here. (Note: Loy's real name is Laura, but Miss Eileen named her Loy when they were roommates in college, so there's nothing she can do about that.) Currently, Loy is teaching a beading workshop, and is having a big sale in November. (If you are interested in her incredible stuff, I can hook you up - drop me an email or leave a comment.)

Photos I took while at St. Bee's Beach. First the young lovers: Doggies are everywhere!

Really beautiful scenery, and the approximate area where my stone was lying when I found it:

There were people actually swimming in the incredibly cold ocean when we were there. It was sunny, but NOT warm:

The Double Wedding Ring Update: I have all the blocks sewed together in rows. Now I need to join the rows. This isn't as simple as it looks. Apparently in order to always sew with the white part of the block on top, one has to sew on the seam for a while, and then flip the whole business over and sew on the other side for a while. At least this is what is explained in the directions. I need some uninterrupted sewing time to figure it out.

To take a break from all that, I am making a Heartstrings quilt, as mentioned in a previous post. I have half of the blocks DONE. It is such an easy block to make, particularly in comparison to the DWRQ. One thing that has come in handy is the rotating cutting mat I got to make the DWRQ. It makes life so much easier and I am using it on the Heartstrings quilt as well.

You start off with a block that looks like this:

You trim a side and then rotate the mat for each side like so:

And your finished block looks like this:

Why didn't I get one of these years ago???

Parting Shot: Half of the Heartstrings are blocks done. I'm loving this!

Sewing ADD

2009-09-29T21:18:00.011-04:00

My 30 minutes a day is paying off! For the past week, sewing 30 minutes a day on the DWRQ has allowed me to finish the nine remaining "footballs" and get one row sewed together! Wooo-hoo! Obviously, such industry must be rewarded, and what better reward than to irrationally begin a new quilt???? My motivation for getting the DWRQ pieced is so I can start one of Mary's Heartstrings quilt. So against better judgment, I did. These are the first 8 blocks I made this past weekend. They aren't sewn together, but I laid them out so I could see how they will look. My intent is to make a man's quilt, so I made the center strips all brown. In order to set the brown strips off, however, I added the red strips down each side of the brown. You can see a close up here:

I cut the brown strip 2 inches wide and the red strips 1 inch wide. So the red strips finish at 1/2 inch wide. (I saw this variation on Mary's blog by one of her readers, but now I can't locate the post where Mary showed it off.) The rest of the fabrics are what I would consider "manly" fabrics. I am using outdoorsy prints, civil war reproductions, and at least five castoff shirts given to me by my (boy)friend who was getting rid of them anyway. One of the fabrics comes from his old welding coveralls. He had used duct tape to cover the rips in the knees, and the only usable part of the coveralls was the back, but I got a few good strips out of them! I'm having a lot of fun with this quilt and the easy block is fun and quick compared to the DWRQ.

In other fun news, I found my mother's wedding dress! Well, not really. My grandmother made my mother's wedding dress when my parents got married in 1962. I remember the dress when I was child; my mother kept it in a gray box wrapped with a couple of pastel ribbons. I used to open it as a girl and look at it. I thought it was the most beautiful dress ever. It was in two pieces: a satin underdress that was strapless, and a lace overdress, with a bateau neckline, long sleeves, and basque waist. Unfortunately, in our last move before my father retired from the Army, the dress was lost. I was so disappointed. I loved that dress. About a dozen years later, my grandmother died, and all of her sewing supplies, including her patterns were sold or given away.

I didn't start sewing until 2003, and since that time I have been on the lookout for the pattern that was used to make Mother's wedding dress. I had always hoped that if I got married, I could be married in the same dress. With the internet and the explosion of interest in vintage patterns, this search has allowed me to waste, I mean, enjoy, hours of my time looking at vintage wedding dress patterns.

So a couple of weeks ago, I was on Erin's Dress-A-Day blog where she linked to a Wiki site of bridal patterns. (It's her September 8th post.) Something told me that my grandmother would have likely used a Simplicity pattern. I don't know why I felt that, but I did, so I started with the Simplicity patterns, and after about a half dozen clicks, there it was:

Here's a better photo that I shamelessly stole:

I knew this was it; right down to the basque waist. I was further convinced when I found out that the pattern was published in 1962. Here's a close up of version 1 which was used to make my mother's dress:

My grandmother also used the pattern to make all three bridesmaids dresses, in yellow, as I remember. I emailed the photo to my mother, who said, "Yep, that's it." Here's a photo of the dress worn by my mother on her wedding day:

Unfortunately, you can't see the waist very well in the photo. But dig the pointy sleeves at the wrists! I love it. This photo is of my parents at the Baha'i wedding at my grandparent's house, so Daddy is wearing a suit and Mother isn't wearing her veil. Later that day, they had the Christian church wedding, where Daddy wore his dress blues, while Mother did wear her veil. (Also made by her mother.)

Now armed with the pattern number, I just googled it, found two of the patterns for sale, one of which was in my size. I ordered it pronto and I am now the proud owner of the pattern for this great dress. Rest assured, I'm in no danger of getting married, but if I do, I have the pattern for it!!!!

I'm thinking that my grandmother would be vastly amused that the pattern she paid 65 cents for in 1962 is worth $ 40.00 in 2009.

Where I Have Been

2009-09-23T20:55:00.005-04:00

I took last Friday off and headed north to the Philadelphia Quilt Show with my friends, Eileen and Loy. Unfortunately, the Crab Dress did not go due to weather/time/ironing concerns. It's complicated.

The three of us really enjoyed the Show. There was an international component this year, and it was fascinating to see quilts from Japan, Australia, and Ireland. The Japanese quilts were of such exquisite workmanship, it was hard to really comprehend. And there was collection of quilts made in the US specially during WWI and WWII which was wonderful. It became clear to me as I walked amongst the hundreds of quilts that I am simply drawn to the more traditional quilt patterns, rather than the contemporary styles these days.

Of course, there were plenty of vendors as well. I wish I could say I showed restraint, but I can only say that in quantity of yards purchased. There was no restraint in the amount of dollars spent. Because I found THE most gorgeous piece of fabric ever. It is a cashmere/mink blend in black: Of course, the photo doesn't do it justice, especially since it is so difficult to photograph black. But it is so soft and supple, it can slip through the proverbial ring. It came from one vendor booth selling luxury fabrics from Italy and I fondled every bit of it. This cashmere/mink is the most expensive fabric I have ever bought and will become a skirt for me this winter, lined in silk. The fact that I only bought a scant yard, and nothing else took a supreme act of self control. Of course, the bank account balance helped me in that regard.

As for quilt fabric, I bought this: Some was bought at the quilt show, some was at a LQS near Loy's home during the weekend. I especially love the bottom-most fabric which is called "Scarsbough Fair" by Windham Fabrics. I am planning one of Mary's Heartstrings quilts in my head with all this yummy stuff, so I am motivated to get the DWRQ done.

Speaking of which, I have all 20 quilt blocks of the DWRQ done!

Of course, that isn't all. I still need to make 9 "footballs" to complete the blocks that will go around the outer-most edges. I wanted to join the 20 blocks first, and then sew in the extra "footballs", but my rational mind said that trying to sew those footballs on when all the rows were sewn and joined was just an opportunity to stretch those biased edges. And we don't want that.

So I am dutifully making those footballs. Here is my progress:

I so want to get going on the Heartstrings quilt that I have adopted Summerset's idea of "30 minutes a day" to get this DWRQ done. I work on it 30 minutes a day, and then I stop. I am amazed to find out how much I can get done in just 30 minutes on a quilt. Last night I had a date, so I came home from work at lunch and did my 30 minutes. I am committed. Or should be committed. Whatever. It's working for me.

Parting Shot: When I flew home from Philadelphia on Sunday, I found that someone had spruced up my flower garden bed by putting in new scalloped border blocks. Which replaced the old icky two-by-four which had been there for at least a dozen years. I owe him a homecooked meal!

Time to Make A Jeans Skirt for Fall!

2009-09-09T21:32:00.008-04:00

Saturday I made a pair of jeans into a skirt. The jeans weren't old or worn or even too short: I made them into a skirt because these pair of Levis I bought last fall had a goodly amount of spandex in them. And while the spandex made them very comfortable, I was NOT comfortable leaving the house wearing them. The spandex molded the jeans to my body in a way that left little to the imagination and that wasn't cool. My choices were to donate them to Goodwill (but then I'd be inflicting them on some other unsuspecting soul), or make them into a jeans skirt.

This is the third jeans skirt I've made since I started sewing and I have used the same instructions each time, which are the BEST and easiest instructions I have found on the internet. The instructions are from savyseams.com and they are found here. Go ahead a look at them. Go on - I'll wait for you to get back.

I guarantee you that if you can operate a sewing machine, you can do this. I'm posting how I did it using savyseam.com's instructions because I have a few tips to add. First, I used the two panel method, rather than the four panel. That is, I added fabric at the front and the back, but not on the sides. This mades the skirt a little more straight, and less flare-y.

OK, start with a pair of jeans and cut the legs off. I cut my legs off 19 inches from the bottom. The way to get the most accurate cut is to measure from the hem up: Next, cut off the inseam in accordance with the instructions. This is one of the reasons I really like the method from savyseams.com. You aren't fiddling with a seam ripper to undo the seam, you just cut it off: Next, draw a line from about 2 inches below the back yoke to the bottom of the leg, like so:

And cut like so:

Do this on the front as well, about 2 inches from the end of the zipper. See the instructions at savyseams.com:

Refer to the instructions to release the front and back center seams, and then iron the raw edges of the former inseam under about a half an inch:

Use the fabric from the legs you cut off to fill in the triangle areas in the front and back of the skirt, and then pin. I do one side at a time. This is the back:

First, edgestitch along your folded edge, then stitch again about a quarter of an inch from the edgestitching. It will look like this:

One thing I have discovered is that thread made specifically for jeans doesn't work so well. I just use regular thread in a color that matches close enough. Works well.

This is what the inside will look like. After you do your stitching, cut away the excess on the inside of the skirt:

Do this, of course, for the front and the back. Now you just have to hem it. The way I hem it is to lay the jeans skirt flat and measure down from the waist. I marked my hem 21 inches from the top:

When you lay your skirt flat, make sure the front waist naturally falls lower than the back waist. This will make you hem a lot more even:

After marking, cut the front and the back to length at the same time:

All trimmed up:

Next, I like to run a machine stitch around the bottom about 1/2 inch from the edge of the skirt:

Then I like to throw the skirt in the washer and dryer and let the bottom hem just naturally fray. Unfortunately, that didn't work on this skirt. I think it is because of the spandex in the fabric. After washing and drying it, my hem just looked like this on the right in this photo:

On the left you can see a previous skirt I made where it frayed quite nicely. Not so the evil spandex jeans - I just got strings hanging down where the fraying should be. So I used my newly-trusted serger and finished the bottom edge. I guess I could have just left it like that if I was going for the deconstructed look. But for me, "deconstructed" is the same as "too lazy to construct", so I turned up the hem just past the line of 1/2 inch stitching, pressed it, and then top stitched the hem. It ended up looking like this which is much neater:

Here is my finished skirt:

Still a bit snug, but much better! I can see wearing this with a sweater and some boots come fall.

I would say that this skirt took me about an hour and ten minutes to make, not counting the extra hemming I had to do. If you just did your hem like I intended and let it fray, the whole thing shouldn't take you very long at all. Anyway, I love those instructions - check it out!

Parting Shots: I got an apron! My LQS was having a sale on shop samples, and I spied this and grabbed it. I love it for two reasons: the adorable rick rack, and the fact that VickiW made it! It had to come home with me so as to not risk it going home with someone who wouldn't value it:

So to celebrate, I had to cook! I made my first red velvet cake in the new cake pans my mother gave me. It was yummy, and I even let other people have some!

Quilt Binding Further Explained

2009-09-05T08:17:00.003-04:00

I got a beautiful email from Laurie asking for further clarification on my quilt binding tutorial, which I am only happy to attempt to answer. Specifically, she wants to know how to fold your binding parallelogram before you begin your rotary cutting of the binding strips. Frankly, this step always requires me to sort of stand back and think about it myself each time. But here is the answer:

Let's pretend this is your binding parallelogram:

This is just a strip I had lying around, and we will use it for demonstration purposes. See how the sides are cut on the bias? Now turn your parallelogram like this, so that your bias edge is on the vertical lines of your cutting mat like this: Then fold your binding parallelogram like this:

And then cut your strips on the vertical lines of your cutting mat. That's it. I know the folding seems unnecessary, but that is because this strip used for demonstration is a lot smaller than your binding parallelogram if you are making a lot of bindng. Your binding parallelogram will be big, and folding it will allow you to cut your strips easily using your acrylic ruler, which is probably no more than 24 inches long.

I hope this helps - please email me or leave a comment if you have any other questions. Thanks so much for the feedback, Laurie!

I Actually Sew Something

2009-08-29T17:12:00.007-04:00

I haven't been sewing a lot lately because, frankly, I've been dating. I had forgotten how much time that takes out of your life! But I finally had a whole Saturday just to sew, and I got inspired to make a wool circle skirt. Yesterday, I wore the yellow dress to work:I realized I hadn't worn it all summer, and summer is waning fast. This is my tried and true bodice with a circle skirt from this dress pattern:

I got compliments on it all day long from both friends and strangers (thanks to the woman in Panera who told me how much she liked it!), so you'll have to believe me when I say it looks better on me than on the hanger. I had forgotten how much fun it is to wear a circle skirt, so I decided I needed to make just the skirt with a waistband from a beautiful piece of wool I have had aging in my stash from 2003. I got it at The Fabric Place outside of Boston which has now gone out of business. I still had the write up the saleslady gave me: 3 yards of 60 inch wide wool at $9.99 a yard. It is a dark, dark blue, with a very subtle plaid to it and has such a wonderful hand, it could slip through the proverbial ring.

I spent some time laying out the fabric so the sides would match up horizontally. I laid the excess fabric over my ironing board so the fabric wouldn't stretch as I cut it out.

The width of this fabric was just barely enough to eek out this skirt. As soon as I cut it out, I put painters tape on the wrong side of the garment pieces because it is a great way to keep the right side and the wrong side differentiated until you get it put together:

I ended up putting in a black zipper instead of a navy one because the fabric was just so dark. Here you can see the difference:

Circle skirts are generally easy because there are no darts, and very little fitting other than the waist. But for some reason this skirt took me nearly all day.

Blogger is aggravating me and won't let me move my photos around, but you can see from the photos up top that I used my serger to finish the seam allowances, even though the thread didn't remotely match, but I figured no one was going to be looking at my seam allowances. Also, you can see the horizontal plaid matching at the side seams. I used my walking foot to sew the side seams. I used a button as my closure rather than a snap, mostly because I can get my sewing machine to do the buttonhole AND sew on the button automatically, while the snap closure requires actually hand sewing. And we don't want that.

I used bias tape to hem a la Summerset, as I did for the silk dress and it worked well. I tried the walking foot to sew the machine hem, but that didn't work very well and went back to the regular foot. Circle skirts are a PITA to hem, though, just because the hem goes on forever and ever. I considered lining this skirt, but that was going to require me to hem the lining as well, I decided I would just wear a slip instead.

I was aiming for a 29 1/2 waist for this skirt, but it ended up being nearly 30 inches. Don't know how that happened since I clearly marked 29 1/2 inches on my waistband, but there you go. That extra 1/2 inch will probably come in handy this winter when I am tucking in sweaters. I have discovered that the trick to wearing circle skirts is to wear them with closely fitting tops. If you don't, you look shapeless.

One last note, I cut the waistband on the bias. I do this for all my wool skirts ever since a Korean lady in Massachusetts told me to do this because it would make my waistbands lay closer to the body. I don't know if it is true, but I like the bias effect on my plaid skirts and I don't have to worry about matching the plaid with the skirt.

Bring on Fall!

The Crab Dress Goes to London!

2009-08-20T21:31:00.002-04:00

I spent last week in London; business for me, but a vacation for my mother, who hadn't visited in fifty years! Of course, the Crab Dress had to go too, and on our first full day there, we headed over to the Victoria & Albert Museum which is my absolutely favorite museum in London: The V&A is dedicated to art and design, which includes fashion. Mother and I enjoyed the wardrobe displays of women's dresses and suits from the 1600s to the present day, as well as the history of the man's suit. I always hit the V&A on every visit to London, and if you go I heartily recommend it. I have never been able to see the entire museum as I always begin with the fashion collection. My next favorite collection is the British furnishings displays from the 1500s to the 1700s. Just let me live there and sleep in the Bed of Ware!

The museum also has an excellent cafe and a paddling pool which the British used because they thought 76 degrees was hot:

We were exceedingly blessed with excellent weather, the better to show off Big Ben:

We went to the British Museum as well, near our hotel:

Is this not the most stunning museum you have ever seen? I was able to see the Rosetta Stone, one of my goals in life, along with an excellent Egyptian collection which included several mummies. As my mother said, "The British really know how to do a museum." And it is all free.

We stayed near the Covent Garden area and went to a restaurant one night that is decorated to look like the theatre itself:

Apparently, the restaurant has live opera singing every Sunday and Monday nights, but fortunately we missed that and just had a quiet meal instead.

No fabric shopping for me all week; I was tempted to go to Liberty's to shop for Liberty fabrics, but I've been there before and I have decided I am just too bourgeois to pay that much money for cotton fabric. (Now silk - silk is a different story!) It was a great trip, and I won't bore you with too many photos, but London is a city you could go to year after year and never see it all. Still, it is good to be home!

Parting Shot: One of the most moving experiences of the trip: a group of the blind were visiting the Battle of Britain Memorial and were feeling the relief sculpture:

London Calling!

2009-08-07T14:34:00.001-04:00

I'm off to London for a week on business - Mother is coming with me; she hasn't been in London since she was twenty years old. I think she will have a better time that me!

I'll post when I get back - I think the Crab Dress is going . . .

A Sewing Angel Gets Her Wings!

2009-08-01T16:54:00.008-04:00

This week I was lucky enough to give my friend, Aimee, her first sewing lesson. (That's her on the right.) I usually start off with a pillowcase for a first time sewer, but Aimee could already sew a seam and had operated a sewing machine, plus she had bought enough fabric at our LQS for five skirts, and a skirt is what she wanted to make. So we made this one, McCalls 3341, which is a good choice for a first skirt, and I've made many times. Simple, 4 darts, no waistband:

We made view D, the above the knee version. This skirt usually takes me 3 hours to make. We made it in 4 hours on Wednesday night, which is pretty good for a first time sewer. She did a great job:

The fabric she chose is an upholstery weight twill, which was a dream to work with. I didn't note the designer, but we both loved it. Here is the back and you can see what a great job she did on the darts, the waist and the zipper:

Strangely enough, I am the one wearing the skirt in these photos. Aimee wanted me to model the skirt while she took the photos once we finished! The best part about teaching her to sew is that she and I are the exact same size, so alterations are not even an issue. I showed her how to put in the zipper according to my zipper tutorial and she was surprised how easy it was.

Aimee wore the skirt to work on Friday with a brown sweater and looked great. My plan was to take her photo in the skirt, but of course, I forgot to bring my camera to work. She enthusiastically wants to make her next skirt Monday night.

Aimee and I played with my new serger on this skirt and used it to finish the seam allowances. It was a LOT of fun and Aimee was really fascinated with the serger.

This morning, however, I started the day slowly. I finally decided an easy project was the way to go. My friend, Kevin, turns 30 years old on Monday, so I made him some boxer shorts as a gift:

I used some quilting fabric manufactured by Alexander Henry that was left over from a shirt I made my friend Glen a few years ago. I was able to play with my new serger with this project:

As usual, I put in a button on the fly, rather than a snap because I think it looks nicer:

I used this pattern, Simplicity 9958 which I have shown you before:

I think Kevin is spending the weekend celebrating, so he'll get these when/if he returns to work next week!

Last week I spent the weekend at the beach at the bay in Mathews County:

It was really beautiful and really relaxing. The backyard of the house I stayed:

The shell of a horseshoe crab:

The New Point Comfort Lighthouse in the distance:

More sand:

Parting Shot: The Crab Dress goes to the beach! Like I would leave it at home . . .

This is What I Wear

2009-07-18T15:39:00.006-04:00

I engaged a week of what Trena calls "stunt dressing". I wore the same skirt every day to see if anyone would notice. I mean, of course, I wore a skirt made from the exact same pattern every day this week. Here they are, left to right, Monday through Friday:

These were all made with the tried-and-true McCall's 2029 A line skirt, version B which is above the knee: I made each of them with a wonderful Hoffman fabric from equilter.com that is 55% cotton and 45% rayon. Monday was southwestern chili pepper day:

Tuesday was tropical drinks day:

Wednesday was surf boards day:

Thursday was vacation/holiday:

And Friday was even more surf boards:

As expected, no one noticed. Although three different folks did say during the week, "You made that skirt, right?" I think everyone knows me so well, they wouldn't be surprised by anything I wore to work. Once you have seen the Crab Dress, you have seen it all.

Parting Shot: My friend Aimee and me. I'm wearing Wednesday's surf board skirt!

This Is How I Sew

2009-07-12T19:23:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I gave the program at my monthly sewing guild meeting - we are the Fashion Focus Group for anyone interested in the Richmond, Virginia area - and my mission to was impart how I use just a few patterns to achieve different looks for my dresses. I'd like to say I do this because I love the challenge, the creativity involved, etc., but I really sew this way because:

I. Simply. Do. Not. Have. The. Time.

That is the truth. Between work and the MS, my time and energy are in short supply.

Clearly, the most time consuming part of sewing is fitting. And a good fit is what makes a garment look good on you. So my philosophy is that once you get a good fit, work that pattern to death. You can achieve great results with minimal effort.

So yesterday I was able to show how I got 14 garments from just two dress patterns and two skirt patterns. Here are the two dress patterns, Simplicity 9559 and McCall's 4919: The Simplicity pattern was the very first dress pattern I ever used. I got lucky; for some reason the bodice of this dress just fit me perfectly. It is out of print these days, but it has several views, which includes a v-neck bodice, a sweetheart neckline, and a sundress. The McCall's pattern is simply a sheath dress pattern, with a seam at the waist and a straight skirt with a vent in the back. I believe it is still in print.

My two skirt patterns are McCall's 2029 and Butterick 4515:

The McCall's pattern is an A-line skirt with a waist band, with two darts in front and two darts in back. The Butterick pattern is a dress pattern, but I only use it for the circle skirt.

Because the Simplicity 9559 fit me so well, I have made every view many, many times. Here are three examples of the v-neck bodice, the sweetheart bodice, and the sundress, all in cotton:

You will have to trust me that these look good on - ideally I would have had photos of me wearing them, but alas, no photographer was available today. The next photo is of the McCall's 2029 skirt pattern which I have made up in various fabrics:The green plaid is a wool tartan I bought in Edinburgh at a weaver's shop right next to Edinburgh castle. I bought it off the remenant table, which is probably the only reason I was brave enough to cut in to it. I lined it in silk. The red skirt is a cotton/rayon fabric that I love to wear in the summer. And the pink sundress is a morphed hybrid: it is the sundress bodice of the Simplicity 9559 dress and the McCall's 2029 skirt. It has poodles on it:

I couldn't believe my luck when the front and back darts of the skirt matched up perfectly with the darts of the bodice. Clearly, it was Meant To Be.

Next are all my versions of the McCall's 4919 sheath dress:

On the far left is a cotton version done in a Kaffe Fassette fabric, the red is a red wool I got from fashionfabricsclub.com, and the silver on the left is a duipioni silk I made for a Christmas party (which I wear with a sash). The grey wool skirt in the middle is one I made just using the skirt portion of the pattern. I've photographed the back of it, so you can see that I just added a waistband, and I lined it in a bright silk fabric that VickiW gave me. I wear this dress constantly, especially in the winter in wool, with a sweater or jacket. I feel very Jackie-O in it.

Next are more morphed dresses. All of these dresses are made using the circular skirt pattern from the Butterick 4512:

On the far left is an Italian worsted wool version that I love. The wool is a brown check with light blue, and I usually wear it with a light blue sweater and brown mary jane pumps. I made it with the v-neck verison of the Simplicity 9559 pattern. The bright pink is a duipioni silk with the sheath dress bodice. The pale yellow dress is the same as the brown check wool, but of course, it uses two different fabrics, and I drafted a collar for the yellow version.

And of course, the latest incarnation is the silk jacquard dress I recently posted about. It was made with the circle skirt, and the sweetheart bodice of Simplicity 9559:

So this is how I roll. Some would call it lazy sewing; I just call it smart sewing. I never do muslins; I just keep making the same dress over and over in different variations on a theme. Muslins bore me, and have I mentioned that time is always of the essence?

I do, however, make other patterns. I have a particular love of vintage patterns, and I have ventured into dress patterns that actually have sleeves. But the above examples are what I make when I don't have a lot of time or energy, and I want to know that what I am making will work. These are the tried and true pattern friends.

Hmm. Now I'm thinking something needs to be made in a rayon batik. I'll have to think about that some more and get back to you . . .

Parting Shot: I got a pedicure this weekend! Which always feels decadent:

An Etsy Purchase

2009-07-11T17:57:00.005-04:00

I've bought patterns off Etsy before - that is where the Crab Dress pattern came from - but I have never purchased anything handmade. This week I decided to splurge and get a summer purse, especially after I realized that the one I was carrying around was given to me by a friend in 2003. I'm just not a purse person. A purse is something to carry your stuff in, not a fashion statement. As a result, a purse is one of those things I welcome as a gift since my picks are never all that inspired. But I saw this one on Etsy: I believe the fabrics are "Swanky" from Chez Moi of Moda, and the handbag was made by Lisa from simplestitches101. Here is a shot of the inside which is yellow (yum!) and has pockets around the sides:

She also included a checkbook cover, a credit card wallet, and a wristlet key chain:

Lisa also had for sale some "reader" glasses (also known as "cheater" glasses) that she had funkied-up by painting pink and white dots on them. Sold!

My glasses in my new purse:

I'm really pleased with this; it only took 3 days to get my new glasses and purse, and they will both be put to use tomorrow!

No sewing done today; I did attend my monthly sewing guild meeting where I gave the program on using just a few patterns to create many different looks. I'll post about that soon.

God is Good

2009-07-09T23:47:00.004-04:00

Lately, life has seemed somewhat dry and barren - frustration has set in, between the economy, the unrelenting Michael Jackson non-news coverage, and the endless strife in the Middle East. Plus, work has pretty much sucked, too, and that is where I spend most of my time. So, I have spent the last few days saying to friends, "Tell me some good news."

No one seems to have any.

And then tonight I saw a friend. Two months ago he was suffering - physically, emotionally, and spiritually as a result of his addiction to alcohol. I wasn't just worried about him, I was praying for his life.

Tonight he came by and gave me the good news I've been asking everyone else for. He is better. Immensely better. Better than he has been in years. All of a sudden, the work problems didn't matter any more, and the price of gas just wasn't important. He was lost, and now has been found. I am profoundly grateful. God is good.

Parting Shot: I took this in Puerto Rico on the cruise - a girl in the street with her bird. She clearly adored this animal.

Making Lemonade Out of Lemons

2009-07-03T14:13:00.005-04:00

Happy Fourth of July weekend, everyone! I got off work on Thursday and had a craving for lemonade, real lemonade. None was to be had, so I was going to have to learn to make it myself. Fortunately, the internet is a beautiful thing - goggle "how to make lemonade" - and voila! Real lemonade. It was delicious and there is a still a quart of it in the frig for the weekend. What worked for me:

Mix 1 cup of water with 1 scant cup of sugar. Bring to a boil. Set aside.
Squeeze the juice of 6 lemons, and pour the lemon juice into the water/sugar mixture. Pour a little over 3 cups of cold water into a pitcher and add the water/sugar/lemon mixture. Pour over ice into glass. Yum!

I also did a quick project: I made a runner for a chest of drawers in my bedroom to match my new bed quilt. I used some of the leftover fabrics, piecing them with no particular plan, but I ended up with this:

I rounded the front two corners because that is how the chest of drawers is shaped. Also, I never miss an opportunity to have curved corners because I hate mitering corners. I auditioned several bowls for the proper circumference, but this is the size I went with: I also sewed the binding on completely by machine, front and back. Here is a shot of my pinning prior to the final sew down - it gives you an idea how far apart I put my pins:

(See? That extra binding I made when doing the bed quilt came in handy!) This runner ended up about 29 inches by 16 inches, so I used fusible batting, and I did straight line quilting along the length. I used the edge of the walking foot as my guide and I simply varied the width by moving the needle to different needle positions on my machine:

Another shot:

I pieced the back as well:

Here you can see the runner on the chest of drawers. Pretty good fit!

It was fun to do something that only took a day or two. I also have a bedside table I was thinking about making a runner for, but I'm afraid to overload my bedroom with these fabrics. I love them, but I'm trying not to go nuts.

Parting Shot: New quilting book. Between this book and the internet, I don't really see any reason to buy a new quilting magazine, ever.

Working on Posting What I'm Sewing

2009-06-30T21:58:00.005-04:00

I finished my bed quilt - look, Siobhan, no borders!

As usual, Susan Caldwell at Quilting Around the Block did an awesome job with the pantograph. I can't remember what it is called, but here is a shot of the muslim backing show the pantograph: I love it! Here is a shot of the front:

This quilt ended up finishing at 88 inches x 88 inches and I thought this was a perfect time to try Judy's binding video tutorial and sew the binding on completely by machine. The whole purpose of this quilt was to make it simply and get it on the bed because I loved the fabrics so much and they matched perfectly with my bedroom decor (which I can't take credit for - the woman who owned the house before me picked the wall paper, the drapes, and the carpeting and she did a masterful job!).

Judy's tutorial is great, and she makes it look easy. She does stress that the success of this method lies in using really sharp pins. I used the sharpest I had which were silk pins. They were key to making sure the binding did not move while sewing it down from the front. I didn't quite get the nice corners Judy did:

Although my corners look fine from the front:

I sewed one side and one corner at a time, so I had four chances to improve. At first, I folded the binding over a little too much and this resulted in a little "lip" on the back:

But then I improved:

And I admit that her method looks awesome from the front! In most places you would never know from the front that the binding was sewn by machine and not by hand:

Now my stitching isn't perfect, but this is my quilt to go on my bed, so there will be no quilt police entering my house to inspect the quality of my work. I'm so pleased with this because doing it this way probably only took me one-third of the time if I had done it by hand. I'm not a big fan of handwork, and sewing bindings down by hand was really the only handwork I ever did - but all that has changed now. I will probably use this method from now on, unless the quilt is an extra-special one.

Then I did something I have never done to a quilt that I have made (except for my first one) - I washed it. I decided that it would have to be washed at some time in the future, and there was no time like the present. VickiW assured me that she simply puts it in the washer and then in the dryer, no problem. And she was right; it came out soft and crinkly. I immediately put it on the bed and I'm laying under it now as I type!

One thing I did want to mention: when I was initially sewing the binding onto the front of the quilt, I tried Judy's method of moving the needle all the way to the right needle position and using the edge of the walking foot as my guide. The advantage to this was that way more of the quilt was under the walking foot and thus, the quilt was pulled along under the foot with a lot more force, making the whole process much easier. Wish I had been doing this all along.

Parting Shot: Two more blocks of the Double Wedding Ring Quilt got done this weekend. Fourteen done, six more to go!

How To Make Quilt Binding

2009-06-26T23:47:00.010-04:00

I am certain that 95% of all readers of this blog know how to make quilt binding, but this post is for those who don't - like my friend Chris B who is making her very first quilt. She has warned me that quilt binding is in her future, so this is particularly for her.

The first, and most difficult, step to making quilt binding is figuring out how much fabric you need. I am spectacularly bad at this. I search the internet for formulas, I read books, and in the end my method consists of "make way more than you need". I figure that it is better to have too much than too little, and any leftovers can be use to bind placemats.

So to make bias double-fold binding, I usually start with one yard of fabric for a queen size quilt, three-quarters of a yard for a double size quilt, and a half a yard for a twin size quilt. This will give you plenty of binding, and then some. Start by squaring off the edges - this will make every step afterwards a lot easier: Then take the lower right hand corner and fold it towards the opposite selvage edge:

Fold it all the way over to the opposite selvage edge, so that the resulting fold is a 45 degree angle, and, hence, the bias:

Use a pair of sissors to cut along the bias fold:

Don't worry about being perfect; you can clean up this edge later on in the process with a rotary cutter. Next, lay out your resulting two pieces of fabric so that you get a parallelogram. (You remember geometry, right?) The two selvage edges will abut each other:

Pin the two selvage edges together:

And then sew them together. Press your resulting seam open:

Next, fold your fabric in half, so the bias edge is vertical on your cutting mat. Your parallelogram will look like this:

(Further clarification on how to fold your binding parallelogram can be found here.)

Clean up the bias edge by using your rotary cutter:

Now start cutting 2 1/2 wide strips:

Repeat until your fabric is all cut into strips. Shot of parallelogram getting smaller as strips are cut:

From a yard of fabric, you will be able to cut 12 strips. This is plenty for a queen size quilt.

Next, join your strips together to make one long piece of binding. I start by laying one strip out on my cutting mat, right side up like this:

Then take a second strip and lay it right side down at a right angle to the first strip like this:

I use the grid on my cutting mat to make sure the strips are at a 90 degree angle. Don't just eyeball it. What your eye thinks is a 90 degree angle just isn't. Measure. Then put a pin in it like this:

Next, draw a sewing line parallel to your pin from corner to corner like this:

It's important to draw the sewing line. Don't just eyeball it, because what your eye thinks is a straight line, ain't. Next, put a second pin parallel to the sewing line like this:

Now sew your two strips together. Sewing your strips this way allows you to sew your seam on the straight grain which is more stable. After sewing, trim the excess so that your seam allowance from your sewing line is a quarter of an inch:

Press your seam allowance open:

Join all your bias strips together the exact same way until they are all joined. I use an assembly line process and it goes faster when you have done it a few times. After you have all your strips sewn together and the seams pressed, fold your binding horizontally wrong sides together and press:

You'll have to cut off the "dog ears":

That's it! There is nothing new or unique about how I make binding; I learned how by reading books and coming up with a method that I use every single time so I can reduce the likehood of mistakes and reduce the frustration factor. (Really important when you are impatient to get a quilt done.) Chris, let me know if something isn't clear or you need help. Miss Eileen, are you reading this???

Quilting ADD

2009-06-07T16:04:00.008-04:00

After weeks away, it was good to get back to a whole day of sewing. I hit the Double Wedding Ring Quilt pretty hard; I got two more blocks done, plus I was able to get more arcs made in an assembly-line fashion, so I am hopeful that the second 10 blocks will go more quickly than the first 10. I also made some binding for another quilt needing to go to the machine quilter's:

It had been so long since I had made a block, I actually had to refer back to the instruction book. But all went well; I didn't even have to unsew and resew on these two new blocks. But, I have decided that the Double Wedding Ring pattern was invented by a diabolical mind - someone who was clearly deranged and had servants, so she had a lot of time on her hands. Mrs. Rochester comes to mind. I'm not certain I would make another one, even if I got married. But I should be careful about saying I would never do something. We all know that the minute you say, "I would never do that" or "I would never do that again", twelve months from now you'll be making two of them. So I'll keep my mouth shut.

For whatever reason, 2009 is a year where I am more interested in quilts than clothing. Which is a real change for me. I just keep coming up with more ideas for what I want to make next. But I am holding firm to the notion that I can't start anything new until at least all the blocks for the DWRQ are DONE. I've decided that I can look at new patterns; I can look at new fabric (via internet, catalogue, LQS, or my stash); I can even calculate yardage and buy new fabric. I just can't cut into it until I've got 20 DWR blocks. Here is fabric I pulled from the stash just to daydream:
I'm hoping that limiting any new starts will spur me towards completion soon!

Here is some exciting news: I got an antique sewing machine from my friends, Cliff and Joyce!

They gave me a treadle machine made by the Free Sewing Machine Co.:

Joyce bought this machine in 1977 for $ 36 when she lived in Massachusetts. She even sewed on it. Note the treadle - no electrical power necessary. It is way cool, and I read up on the Free Sewing Machine Co. here. Based upon what I read, this machine was probably made somewhere between 1890 and 1925. I have no idea. Here's a better shot:

Here is the cable that turned the wheel when you worked the treadle - it's broken now - when Joyce used it, it was held together with a staple. I'll probably need a new one.

It has the original manual, and what looks like the original oil. : )

Here are some of the accessories:

Here are things that were in the drawers. The glass jar contains needles. I don't know what the other two things are or what they are for.

A better shot of the manual - I need to photocopy it before it complete disintegrates:

Here are some action shots showing how the machine stores itself in the cabinet when you close it up:

All closed up:

I really want to get this working again; the machine is in some serious need of cleaning and oiling (and I thought getting my Bernina serviced only once every 3 years was pushing it). Fortunately, that is what the internet is for; I'll do some research on restoration or anyone who could do the restoration. I really appreciate this gift from Cliff and Joyce - they are wonderful friends and I am so thrilled they thought of me. They even delivered!

No Parting Shot today, but I wanted to share that VickiW now has an Etsy shop. Now all those wonderful fabrics she creates and dyes can be yours! Stop by her blog and her shop and see what you can order up. For those of you who are stash busting, anything you buy from Vicki doesn't count - because it is handmade!

Some Progress on This Year's Goals

2009-06-03T21:33:00.003-04:00

I had a few goals this year, as set forth in this post. One of which was to make a Double Wedding Ring Quilt (still working on this - halfway done with the blocks), but the other was to make a quilt for my bed. I chose a simple pattern of Kaffe Fassett's and quickly had all the blocks made, but I had no room to lay them all out. But after the cruise, Mother helped me move the table and chairs out of the dining room so I could arrange the blocks as I liked: It's the only room in the house that's big enough - this quilt will measure 88 x 88 inches when finished. With all the different fabrics, there really is no way to lay it out wrong, and I was able to finally get it together this weekend. Here's a photo of the top in my bedroom. I chose these fabrics precisely because they so matched the bedroom:

So this is off to the machine quilter's tomorrow or Friday, depending on when she can see me. With such a simple block pattern, this quilt is going to need some interesting quilting. I love me a lot of quilting on a quilt!

And in a real burst of efficiency, I was able to get some binding made for Eileen for her Irish Chain quilt I posted about here. It is currently winding its way via post to Boston, Mass for Eileen even as I write:

I'm certain Miss Eileen is perfectly content with me making her bindings, but I'm thinking of doing a binding tutorial in the future, so she can refer to it at will, thus empowering her to make binding too. But somehow, I don't think that it is part of her master plan of her "learning by doing" philosophy!

Parting Shot: A photo I took in the Dominican Republic on the beach. I don't know what this guy was about, but he sure was a character!