Crazy?

I pulled this crazy length of tricot out of the stash because it was long enough to use as a wrap for wearing Duncan, but as I was playing with it, I thought it would make a cool maxi dress. I'm pretty sure it is authentically from the 70s...

Be honest, completely insane or crazy cool?
In case the colors in this photo haven't blinded you, here is the print up close.

Yes, it really is that bright. But I love it. Especially the purple frogs. I'm thinking of making it into Simplicity 3503, the view in gold.

If you saw me in the street in that would you pretend not to know me?

ETA: From my mother, who gave me this fabric : "A note on the authenticity. The fabric is, in fact, Qiana. A DuPont -held trademarked name of Nylon that was wildly popular 1968 - 1975. Qiana, like rayon 80 years previously, was intended to replace silk in the American closet. Hardly!! Your father, and grandfather, briefly (pun intended) wore Qiana undies for a couple of years." 

Mail!

Mitch came in with the mail yesterday, and both my February burdastyle and the Spring Ottobre had come!  Good timing, too.  Between one sick kid and a newborn who has suddenly decided that nighttime isn't for sleep, poring over sewing magazines is all I'm doing at the moment.  My Vogue 8603 skirt is cut out and waiting for me, so hopefully I can get to it soon.  In the meantime, I was pleasantly surprised to find so many things in the new burda that I am excited about sewing!

This dress makes me wish for spring!  It looks cute but very wearable.  Maybe not in white, though.  I have kids...

Love this skirt!!  I have a thing for inverted pleats.

All this talk about 12 jackets in 12 months makes me want to sew a couple.  I love how streamlined this one is.  The empire seaming is really nice.

With all of the changes burda has been making to the magazine, I have seriously been considering not renewing my subscription when it runs out in June.  Other than the September '10 turtleneck, I haven't sewn anything since the April 2010 issue.  The consolidation of the pattern sheets has made tracing a serious pain in the neck and they have raised the subscription rate.  On the other hand, I love it when a new burda comes in the mail, and the last 2 months have been full of designs that I want to sew!  What about you ladies?  For those lovers of burda out there, is it still worth it to you?

What next?

I wish I had something cute to show you, but I don't.  I haven't hit my machine for a week.  I'm ready to cut out my black silk to make pants, but I think I'm afraid of it.  I have no excuse!  I've made these pants twice and wear both versions constantly, so the pattern has been well tested.  It's just more expensive fabric than I'm used to.  I don't want to mess it up!!  In the meantime, I did sew a bunch (like 16) Lightning McQueen beanbags for Logan's upcoming 4th birthday party.

Watch out for those lentils.  They break needles.

While I get over my fear, I have been blog surfing and I ran across this post by Myrna that really resonated with me.  (Actually, a LOT of what Myrna writes really resonates with me.  Have you been by her blog??)  I have a ton of gorgeous patterns and fabulous fabric that keep getting pushed to the back of the queue as I sew, and I really want some of those garments in my wardrobe, and not in my sewing closet.  So, I am going to commit to my own self-imposed sewing club.  I've pulled 12 patterns that I already have fabric for and have been really wanting to sew, but haven't for some reason or another.  I'm bagging them up, and each month (starting in September) I'll pull one out and sew it.  At the rate I've been going, that may be the only thing I sew that month, but I really want to sew these things and get them out of my stash!!  I also reserve the right to a sabbatical around the time that baby is born.  Newborns seem to slow down my sewing...

So what do I have in the queue?  I decided to limit to envelope patterns, mostly because I didn't want to sort through my burdas.  I know lazy, but there it is.  Since I also want this to be a bit of a stashbusting venture as well, I am only including projects for which I already have fabric, although I will allow linings or underlinings and notions to be purchased, since I don't tend to stash those.  I sorted through my envelope patterns and chose 12 that I really want to sew, but have been putting off.  Then I hit the stash, and pulled fabrics for each pattern.  In some cases I already had linings as well, which is nice.  Each pattern/fabric combo went into a 2 1/2 gallon zipper bag.  I'll number them and then choose a number at random in order to select the one to be sewn each month.

In the bags: (in no particular order)
Simplicity 2614, made from a printed green and white lawn from FFC
Vogue 8603, made from a lovely brown RPL, with coordinating brown and green floral lining both from Gorgeous fabrics
Vogue 1027, made from a brown ITY, origin forgotten - (Yes, I am totally plagiarizing Elizabeth's gorgeous brown version of this dress!)
Vogue 1050, made from navy and turquoise peachskin from Joann
Colette Ceylon, made from black and white polka dot lawn from FFC
Vogue 1099, made from turquoise cotton pique with a paisley lining both from Hancock
Vogue 8601, made from pink wool from Pendleton Mills, lined with a green shoe print charmeuse from Joann
burda 7738, made from stretch denim from Fabric.com
Vogue 8604, made from black stretch wool from Fabric.com
Vogue 8322, made from a black and white houndstooth print charmeuse from Hancock
Vogue 8543, made from a black and silver suiting from FabricMart, lining TBD
Simplicity 2764, made from a black and white houndstooth wool coating from Hancock with pink acetate lining from Buttons & Bolts

So, what will be first?  I'll let you know September 1st!  Hopefully, with an online commitment, I'll be able to stick closely to my plan.  Help me out and bug me if you see me falling of the wagon, will you??  But first, I must go cut up some silk!

It just ain't workin'

So, after two muslins, it looks like I waited too long for the vintage Simplicity dress.  Sigh.  There is no way to maintain the sleek style lines of the skirt with this baby belly!!  I won't inflict pictures of the muslin on you, but needless to say, there way no way it was going to zip up in the back...  Mitch tried.  But, I got a perfect fit in the bodice, and it would be too sad to let that go to waste, so I'm thinking I'll do a real maternity adjustment, and make it into my first maternity top.  Don't worry though.  That dress WILL be making an appearance next spring when I have my body back!  In the meantime, I have been contemplating fabrics for a top version of this dress.

They are all three stretch poplin, each with about 4% lycra, so a pretty generous stretch.  I'm leaning toward the white one with the embroidered lilac flowers, but solid pink is so versatile...  Which one do you like?

In the meantime, I'm going to go ahead and cut out BWOF 07/2009-104, which I have wanted to make since I got this issue last year!  With the waist shirring, I think it will have a nice forgiving fit through the summer and it looks nice and cool.

This is the fabric I am planning for this dress.  It is another embroidered stretch poplin, although the embroidery is a bit more subtle than on the lilac poplin above.  It will go nicely with the nautical theme of my 6PAC.

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

You may have noticed a recent dearth of sewing for myself lately, although I've been catching up on much promised hubby and kiddo sewing.  I had been going great guns working on my summer 6PAC.  In fact, I have actually finished four of the seven pieces.

Then I hit a bit of a snag, you might say.  I have patterns, fabric, notions, even time and desire.  Unfortunately, due to a temporary medical condition, my waistline seems to have disappeared...  Don't worry - it'll be back!   But in the meantime, it looks like my summer wardrobe will need to have lots of elastic and by winter, well let's just say it's a good thing that Burda's June issue had a maternity section.  I'll be needing it.

In light of this new development, I'm going to put the white Simplicity top and the Colette dress on the backburner.  I think the Vogue jacket will actually still be quite useful, since it is cropped and unfitted.  This is my first non-summer pregnancy, so I'll be needing a jacket.  I'm also excited about sewing a maternity coat, and how convenient that the June Burda has a great one!

I have some lightweight wool (all I'll need for December in Texas) in a pretty baby blue and wouldn't it be cute to line it in pink?  Although I have a good collection of maternity clothes from my first two pregnancies, I will need some more colder weather appropriate things, so there will be some sewing along those lines, and naturally baby sewing.  Once we know pink or blue that is.

For those of you who may crave details, I am currently 12 weeks along (Why has my waistline already gone???), and the wee one will be due December 31.  And yes, we're really excited!!

Me Made May

I ran across this post on the Colette Patterns blog, and I thought it would be super fun to join in!

Click here for full details, but the short version is that for the month of May, I'm going to attempt to dress only in clothing (other than underthings, shoes and socks) that I have crafted myself, and document my progress here on the blog.  I might even get the kids in on the fun.  Obviously, I'll still be crafting new things, so there will probably be quite a few quick photo posts and combo posts, but I think this will be a great way to get some of my handmade goodies out of the closet, not to mention encourage me to Be Cute Everyday!  Want to play along?  Click on the link and sign up on Zoe's blog.  You know you want to...

Vintage sewing video

I found these adorable videos on Laura's blog, It's Sew Chic.  They were produced by Simplicity in 1948!  They actually have excellent sewing information, and they're so fun to watch!  You'll laugh at the intro to the first one where Betty waxes philosophical about her Home Ec. class...  The first video talks about laying out patterns and how they are produced.  The second shows basic dress construction, including stay stitching, constructing a dart and setting a sleeve, then ends with a drool worthy fashion show.

I'm back!

We had a great trip to San Antonio!  Thanks so much for all of the well wishes!!  Mitch really enjoyed his interview and had a great feeling about the fellowship.  There are still a few interviews to go, but we feel really blessed to have such great options.  Although I didn't get to sew while we were there, I did get to do a little shopping.  I'm not used to having so many choices!!  I went to Joann, and while I know that many of you aren't too impressed with their offerings, I was flabbergasted at the store there!!  It was beautiful, and so well stocked!!  I didn't need anything, but they had some boy interlock prints that I just couldn't pass up, especially since they also stocked matching ribbing.  My local Hancock has ribbing in exactly 3 colors.  It was amazing!!

I also spent some time thinking about y'all.  For the last few months when I've done my monthly review, I've gotten a ton of comments about my productivity and asking essentially, "Where do you find the time??".  So, I thought I'd talk about that a little.

The most obvious answer of course, is that I make it.  I love to sew, so any chance I get I'm scurrying off to the sewing room to stitch or press.  Having a dedicated sewing area really makes a difference to me, since it means I can leave my project in whatever condition is was when I had to stop and just come back to it, rather than having to set up and take down whenever I want to sew.  I also get up really early.  I've always been a morning person, so when my alarm goes off at 5:00, I don't even usually snooze.  Since my kids usually sleep until six or seven, I have time to get showered and ready for the day, as well as have some personal devotional time, and still sew for an hour or so.  Since my wee ones also nap most days, I grab another hour or so during that time.  As for eating - well, I have been known to skip a meal to get my sew on.  Hey, when the kids are sleeping, I just gotta sew!  The other factor is that my sweet hubby understands how much I love to sew and how much my sanity relies on it, so when he can he shoves me in the direction of the sewing room and takes the kids for a while.  He's awesome.  When you add all that up, I end up with a good 6-10 hours of sewing time each week.  And that is just machine time, since I generally trace, cut, alter and hand sew at other random times during the day.

I also have to toot my own horn a little and add that well, I'm fast.  It's not just sewing, though.  In medical school I was notorious among my classmates for my testing speed.  I once took a renal physiology exam in 3 1/2 minutes.  Most of my classmates were still bubbling in their names on the scantron form.  I'm not sure why this is so, it just is.  It doesn't always work to my advantage though.  Since I work at high speeds with a fairly high degree of accuracy, I don't tend to recheck things, so an error made early can totally destroy a project.  It doesn't happen often, but when it does - devastation.

So, how do y'all do it?  I'm not the only one out there sewing!  How do you chisel time out of your otherwise crazy lives?

My Nemesis...

It looks so innocent and puffy and cute, but don't believe it!  It had to be set (dum, dum, dum) in the round.  I don't know why I have such a mental block about setting sleeves in the round.  I will do ANYTHING to avoid it.  Raglan sleeves, kimono sleeves, set in flat - bring it on!  But one fluffy puffed set-in-the-round sleeve and I go from Super Sewist to a quivering pile of insecurity.  Why??  I honestly have no idea!  I have set in many sleeves - from puffy to eased.  I like to think that they generally come out looking quite nicely, but I will do anything to avoid this!!  In fact, the sleeve above is only the first of the set.  In writing this post, I'm avoiding the second.  It's staring at me from the ironing board across the room.  I can hear it chuckling softly to itself.

So, fellow sewists, do you have a sewing nemesis?  Some technique or skill that makes you fear?  Share and help me feel better about my sleeve phobia!

Best Mail Day Ever!!!

Yesterday morning I picked up a package from my mom.  In it was all sorts of goodies...

These pretty cotton prints from my Aunt Lil.  The one on the left is definitely going to become a vintage baby dress!

This was a Christmas present from my Dad that just arrived.  I love spinning out the holiday gift getting!!  I can't wait to make this.  It looks so fun.

And my Grandmother's pearls.  They were a wedding gift from Grandpa in 1951.  They are absolutely gorgeous and will be needing a Jackie O inspired suit to wear with them.  I have a great old vintage suit that needs a new lining, so I may start there, but I have such grand ideas...

Then, as if that wasn't enough, our mailbox was stuffed with all sorts of yummies!  

My sister knitted these absolutely beautiful socks, but they are a bit too small for her, so she sent them to me.  How great is that?!?  I'm sorry that they didn't fit her, but hey, I'm all about gorgeous hand-knit socks, especially since I can't knit my own yet.

Myra sent me these completely awesome 70s era patterns that I can't wait to dig into.  I love the 50s look, but I also have a not-so-secret love for bell bottoms and crazy floral prints.  Mitch thought that the print of the tissue would be a perfect fabric for the top dress and I think so, too!  Have you checked out Myra's Etsy shop?  She has some amazing patterns for very reasonable prices.

Last was a big box from my mom.  She sent the tees to go with the Valentine gear that I've been working on for Logan and Myra.  Aren't they cute?!?

Here's a closeup of the fun embroidery.  How cute is that?  Mitch was so relieved that they weren't girly.
I'd better get that skirt done!  You'll probably get to see it tomorrow...

Stash question and Ottobre 01/2009-21 Valentine "Teku"

What a fun response to my last post about stashing!  Or rather, collecting.  Thanks for the reminder,  Carolyn!!  You guys are awesome.  I'm glad to see that I am in such good company  :-)  I did want to get some feedback for Sister's question about buying for your collection.  Here is what she said -

"I'm a back-of-the-envelope person - I didn't even know what "stash" meant! And my burning question for you stashers is how do you know how much to buy? I used to sit in the store and flip through catalogs, then walk around with the envelope getting supplies. But now I see that's not satisfactory when the craving hits and I can't get to the store. On my way to stashing!"

So, all you stashers and collectors - How do you know how much to buy?  For me, I know that generally a simple knit top takes about a yard, a skirt a little more and pants generally 2.  I often end up either overbuying, or with not quite enough because I've decided that the fabric that I thought I wanted to make a blouse out of suddenly screamed dress to me.  That's when we get creative with layouts...  I've seen a cool set of cards that help you decide how much to buy based on your size and the general style of garment you think you will make from the fabric, but I've never used them.  You can check them out here.

*****
And in other news - Logan's Valentine pants are all done!

They look a little pink in this picture, but I assure you, they are a vivid, true red.  Mitch would have a bit of trouble with pink on his manly boy...  I like all the crazy pockets,

and as an added bonus, they are the perfect size for a Matchbox garage.  Sweet, eh?

Next up is the matching skirt for Myra.  I'm using the twirler skirt pattern that I drafted for her, but adding the cute heart shaped pockets from Ottobre 01/2009-19 - the Herrta skirt.  It's gonna be cute!

How do you shop?

I did something today that I very seldom do.  I went to the fabric store (OK, I do that all the time - wait for it...), and purchased supplies for a specific project.

My McCall's 6024 dress for Easter.  I didn't have anything in my stash that made me happy for it, so I had to get something new.  Pattern in hand, I trotted over to Hancock's, got my fabric - the precise yardage called for, notions and thread all in one fell swoop.  Like I said, I never do this.  Usually I see a drool-worthy fabric and get enough for what I think I might want to make, then figure out exactly what it will become later - sometimes MUCH later.

What about you, are you a stasher, like I usually am?  Or are you project oriented?

A completely non-sewing weekend

We spent the weekend full of holiday cheer with family and friends all over south and east Texas.  I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say, my sewing machine hasn't even been turned on since Thursday, and NO progress has been made on my jeans.  I did get a bit of Christmas knitting done during the many hours of driving.  I also got a chance to see my sister, who unloaded her unused knitting supplies on me!

Wow!!  Needles and hooks of many sizes, a couple of circular needles, counters, stitch markers - all sorts of fun stuff!!  How great is that?!  I can't wait to play with those big fat needles!
I also got my shipment of soil separator, which I am pretty excited about, except for the fact that it obviously came from a hardware store...

Both rolls are covered with surface grime, and one has a dirt mark that runs through several layers.  Yuck!  I know that the intended purpose of this material is to bury in the ground, so dirt doesn't matter, but I don't want dingy patterns on nice fabric!  I had to unroll several yards of each roll before it was clean enough to satisfy me.  So, I can't say that I recommend True Value as a good source for pattern quality soil separator.  But, despite tossing at least 4 yards of the stuff, I suspect that this supply will last me several months, so I'll just have to keep you posted if I find a better place to order from.  I think I'll try amazon.com next.  The shipping was quite reasonable.
Hopefully, I'll get some time to work on my jeans over the next few days, but with the holidays upon us, it'll be slow going.  Both my family and Mitch's will be here for Christmas.  I'm really excited about that, but it means that I will have just that much less time to sew.

Bleah.

I'm taking the morning off.  My tee shirt marathon is making me tired of sewing, so I decided to do what I always do when I don't want to sew and need a mojo recharge.  I'm "cleaning" out my sewing closet, and rearranging all my fabric.  It gives me a chance to touch and feel all of the fabrics that I love, and helps me remember what I actually have in this ever-growing stash of mine.  After spending the morning imagining what each piece of fabric might become, I'm usually ready to hit the machine again.

Want to see what I'm looking at?

To the left is my attempt to tame the madness.  There are six drawers, although the bottom two are hidden by the pile of random projects on the floor.  These are mostly cotton, with a few other things thrown in.  On the floor is a completely mismatched collection of about to make and remains of already made.

To my right is a giant pile of new fabrics - everything from cotton flannel to silk chiffon.  Hanging is a bunch of clothes that are destined for refashion.

And behind the refashionables is another pile 'o random fabric along with three more drawers.  These three are mostly knits.

It doesn't look like much, but it's home to me!

I did sit down to the machine briefly this morning.  Logan's green tee shirt needed adjusting.  His giant head didn't fit through the opening.  So I replaced the not-so-stretchy binding with a rib band.  I just hope he wasn't too traumatized by the experience of having it forced over his head to ever wear it again.

I've been contemplating what to do once I finish the tee shirt marathon.  Thanks to all my awesome blog buddies for some great leads for where to get alternate tracing materials until my soil separator order comes.  I'll let you know how all that comes out.  In the meantime, my parents got me the early Christmas gift of a subscription to Threads!  Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!  My first issue came last week and inside is an article about an interesting skirt with square godets.  It is a Merimekko design and the article included complete instructions for drafting the pattern and constructing the skirt.

I have some striped slinky that would make it up nicely.  The question is, should I??  My concerns --  I'm not a slender Asian girl.  I'm not 20 years old anymore.  Horizontal stripes across the hips that have borne two children???  What would I wear it with?  Hmm.  I really think it is fun and fashion forward.  Should I go for it??

Your favorite?

Have you seen this cool post by Lindsay T?  What a fun idea to look over all of the things you've sewn over the past year and pick a favorite!  I had a difficult time decided which one to post!  I've had so much fun and learned so much about sewing this year.  It was really hard to choose, although it was so fun to look over my older blog posts and reminisce (sometimes with horror!) over the things that I have made.  I decided to only consider things that I have made for myself, mostly because that narrowed the playing field, but also because I can't assess how the kids and Mitch feel about the things I have made them with real accuracy, but I know exactly how I feel about the things I made myself!  My final decision was based on what item I reach for in my closet the most.  The winner?

My McCall's 5592 jeans.  I love them.  I wear them at least twice a week.  I'm wearing them right now!  Why did it take me so long to make my own jeans?  These fit me better than any RTW jean I have ever owned.  I really need to make another pair.

So, what is your favorite thing that you have made this year?  Hop over to Lindsay T's blog and add it to the list!  Isn't this fun?!  Oh, and if you happen to have an opinion about the things that I have made this year, please share.  I'd love to hear!!

Cuteness

Both of the kidlets have been sleeping poorly this week. This means that I 1) am exhausted and 2) haven't had any time to sew (since I sew while they sleep, generally). Still, I have been thinking about sewing and of course, reading about it. I was inspired by Trena's post about being Cute every day, and decided that while I may not be able to sew right now, I can at least clean out my closet. And I did.Look at all that space to fill! I need to sew!!! But only things that I LOVE.
Here is my pile of cast-offs. This is just the first run. I think that I'll go through everything again with a more critical eye. If I don't love it, it must go! Still, this leaves me with the quandary- refashion or Goodwill? I suspect that since I didn't like these things in their original incarnations, I probably won't be able to make myself love them as refashions. I'll have to contemplate this further. What do you think?

Paradigms

I'm not really sure that anyone is paying attention, but the frequency and regularity of posting around here has dropped off a bit. I've been really contemplating a couple of things related to both sewing and blogging and the quality thereof.

I had a system, you know. I would get up, get ready for the day, then blog about whatever struck me. Obviously, if I had a completed project, that was the topic, but there were times that I just sorta made stuff up, and as I was reviewing the blog for the last month, it seems like there was a lot of "fluff". So, I've decided that it is time to up the quality ante around here. From here on out, you'll only see a post if I have a finished project to show off, or have learned something new that I really feel I should share. Less fluff, hopefully more useful, quality information. We'll see how this goes.

In a way, I've been thinking of my sewing in the same way. When I first got back into sewing I was all about churning out clothing as quickly as possible. Now, I am sewing for a couple of kids who seem to grow out of things the minute they come off the machine, but still, quality suffered. I didn't do much in the way of seam finishing or pattern matching or any of the other details that say "quality" when I see them in something that someone else has made. As I've been reading more about sewing techniques and couture techniques in particular, I feel the lack in my own sewing. As a result, I am taking some baby steps in the direction of more finished garments. What that means functionally is that things are probably going to start taking me longer. We'll see how that effects my posting here, since I suspect that I am about to learn a ton of good stuff to share.

So, the summary of all this is - No, I'm not gone. I'm working harder to make more beautiful things, so that when I have something to show you, it will be worth looking at. I hope that fits in with what you hope to see here.

Updates and such...

My part of the wedding dress is done and it has been handed off to greater skilled hands then mine to complete the finishing touches. I took no pictures of the final fitting, but rest assured, it is lovely. I'll post plenty of pics of the wedding.

I also have had a bit of a derailing of my great plans for sewing this month. Dan and Kali have asked if Logan and Myra would be ring bearer and flower girl. How fun! So I have a few things to make to get ready for that!! The groomsmen are wearing black suits and deep red ties. I am about halfway finished with Logan's linen Otto pants,

so if that pattern works well, I will pick up some black suiting and make them again. I can't see Logan putting up with a suit coat, so I'm not sure I'll do that, and I may just purchase the white shirt and tie - time constraints being what they are.

For Myra I have some satin and organza left over from Kali's gown. I think that I shall use Simplicity 5695, view F.

I won't do the little flowers on the bodice and I'll add a bow at the back waistline to mimic Kali's. I'm on the fence about shaping the overskirt like Kali's. I'm not sure it would look quite right gathered. It is a quick sew and I am confident that I can get it done before the wedding in 2 weeks. I'll probably make this before Logan's black slacks though. If worse comes to worse, I can always buy black pants!

Fabric!!

My friend Beth had to run an errand in Waco today, and she invited me to tag along so that we could go to Joann together. Woo-hoo! Thanks, Beth!

Flannel was 2.49 a yard!! Hello! I got a few pieces for jammies for the kids, although the ones that I got for Myra are so cute, they might end up as dresses...
I also got a couple of things for me!
The denim is planned for BWOF 07/2009-104. I've been looking for just the right weight of denim to make this dress, and I think I finally found it!

The grey pinstripe suiting will become either Vogue 8157 or 8131. Which one do you like??

The fabric on top is a red (I know, my camera makes it look orange!) poly interlock that I think I will use for BWOF 04/2009-110B. My April issue is in French, so I haven't yet made anything from it, but this top is pretty simple, so maybe my high school French is up to the challenge...

I think it is time for a new iron...

This is after I blew out the small fire that resulted from the sparks that shot out the cord. I just bought that ironing board cover, too! Grr!