I finally had a little time in my sewing room this week. The show I’m co-directing at the theater (Best Christmas Pageant Ever) opened last Friday night so I’ve had some time to breath. I’m happy to say that the show is going great! It has been an interesting experience to be on the other side of the foot-lights this time. I think we did a fabulous job casting this show and I couldn’t be prouder of how great the cast and crew are doing.

Back to the sewing. About a month ago I opened one of the many sale emails I get from Fabric.com and for some reason went to check out the sale items. I picked up 2 yds of this dark green wool jersey and some bright turquoise ITY. I’ve been in need of some warm tops to wear to work. I discovered that many of the tops I made later this summer and early fall have wide open necklines. That is a problem on two counts; one, some of them are too revealing and two, my neck gets cold! I’ve knit so many little shawls and scarves one would think I’d have an entire wardrobe of neck-warmers and I do in a way but I find shawls too fiddly for work. I cut a lot of fabric with rotary cutters, all I need is for my shawl to fall off at just the wrong moment and get cut in half by my speedy rotary slicing.

Enter Vogue 8597. I don’t remember when I bought this pattern, probably last spring sometime. Things I liked about this pattern:

• Raglan sleeves: easier to sew and comfortable range of motion.
• High cowl neck: doesn’t droop down too low and offer a boob flash when I bend over and covers the back of my neck.
• Optional tunic length: I chose the longer length in this version because I had enough fabric and I thought it would be warmer. I discovered that it would be very easy to add a few more inches and make a nice dress with this pattern and a similar fabric.

I made the size 20 and sewed it straight from the pattern with no alterations. It fits just about perfect. I love when that happens! I’ve worn it twice now, once to the girls’ holiday concert and once to work. It was perfect! It was comfortable, kept my neck warm, wasn’t too hot for when I was moving around at work, cowl didn’t gap or shift or need any fussing with all day. This is a case of perfect match of fabric to pattern. The jersey is 100% merino wool so I will have to be sure I don’t accidentally throw it in the regular laundry. Yesterday I paired it with my perfect fitting Mimosa pants and felt like a million bucks.

Today I’m taking Em to get her braces removed! Then I have sewing for other people to get started. Did someone also mention that Christmas was coming soon? Maybe I’ll get started on preparing for that too…

Us! Erin and I won the Best Couple Costume at the  party last night. They did turn out great if I say so myself. I’m so proud of them that I entered two online sewing/costume contests this morning. One on SewingPatternReview.com and another on Craftster.org.

		Halloween 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The cleverness and creativity displayed by everyone was pretty amazing. My two favorites were Cathy as Tippy Hedren in The Birds and Linda as a Tea Bag (there is an inside joke here that I just can’t explain. You have to know Linda and her funny story!) The inside jokes among our group of friends were well represented in costume form. As well as the metaphors (Law Suit, NBA Lockout) and plays on words (Purple Mountains Majesty). One of the (many) great things about hanging out with theater people is that we take our costumes pretty seriously and we tend to get into total character. Even the non-actors among us got into it. Steve passed out many shots of “Tiger Blood” (Hot Damn) and was heard saying, “WINNING!” all night long. I don’t have a picture of little Johnny dressed as Charlie Brown but he took it all the way by telling us repeatedly that all he got was a rock and he even had the Charlie Brown shirt on under his ghost costume so he could stay in costume even when he wasn’t in costume.

Emma got home from school and we got right to work on her costume. We already had the Finn Hat from an earlier Adventure Time sewing session together. She just made longer ears and put wire inside them to make them stand up and be more pose-able. I found the sweater at Old Navy today but it was long and roomy, more of a “boyfriend sweater” style. So I fired up the serger and took it in and took about 6 inches off the bottom. The skirt is just some cotton interlock from Joann sewn in a tube with a little waist shaping. Then I serged some wide elastic around the waist, turned it under and cover-stitched it down. The hem is just turned and cover-stitched.

The back pack is just wool/acrylic felt sewn into a pouch shape with the bottom corners gussetted. The flat is a piece of craft felt with the bottom corners rounded off and sewn onto the back of the pouch. Straps are 4.5” wide pieces of both colors of felt sewn together then folded into thirds and top stitched. The tops of the straps were attached with the flap and the bottoms were sewn along the bottom of the bag. All she needs now is a pink sword.

She’s 14 and in High School now. I keep thinking “this is the last year she’ll want me to do this stuff for her.” But then we finish something like this and she says, “I love it. I’m never taking it off.” Just like she did when she was 2.

I love that she is so free spirited and willing to be silly and have fun. Because I certainly have fun being silly and creative with her.

Now to go find some Tiger Blood and a cigar for my long lost Sheen brother…

Of course it all wraps up with my favorite holiday, Halloween. It might be the actress in me that loves the costumes and make believe of it all. Or maybe it is the latent Pagan that feels like this is really the dawn of the New Year. Whatever it is I love all of it. This year is no exception. I’ve been making costumes for myself and my friend for our annual party. Three guess who we are going as, and the first two don’t count. Unless of course you’ve never watched any old classic television. I’ll  have photos of us in our costumes after Sunday’s party. These were pretty simple to construct. I used McCalls 5052 for the tops, adding the dark grey cuffs. The skirts and aprons are just simple rectangles, elastic waists in the skirts. The chefs hats (hard to see in this photo) were the most fun, and impressive, parts to make. I just cut large circles, gathered and attached them to wide, interfaced bands with velcro in the back. I kind of wanted to make my husband dress as “Poppin’ Fresh” the Pillsbury Dough Boy just so I could make another one!

I also popped the embroidery module on my machine and stitched up these fun kitchen towels. The designs are from Urban Threads.  If you are looking for some unique and modern embroidery designs this is the place for you. Just check out this: The Clockwork Natura Gown – Embroidery & Handmade Fashion That just makes me want to lose 50# and run away to a Ren Faire.

Now I need to finish this up and get a few last minute things put together for the youngest daughter. She decided at the last minute that she needs a costume. She wants to be “Fiona from Adventure Time”. If you have never caught an episode of this crazy cartoon I suggest you make yourself a cocktail and enjoy the weirdness. The main characters are “Jake and Finn” but there is one episode where they are their female counterpoints, Fiona and Cake. It is really too weird to explain further. Just watch it.

Happy Sewing and Joyous Halloween.

Little Apples VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Little Apples by Aneela Hoey

Little apples is all about what happens in the fall, the kids are playing in the park with their scarves flapping in the wind and singing rhyming songs, round and round they go, just like the seasons. The little apples are falling off the trees and spied by a tortoise who has momentarily peeked out from under his shell and decided to take a stroll. The leaves are swirling around on the wind, providing a brilliantly coloured backdrop to all the goings on, the beauty of fall is definitely here!

Business has been pretty good at my little ol’ Etsy Shop recently which as enabled me to order some new fabric. I saw this new line featured on a few fabric blogs and knew it was the one I wanted to add. I’m really limiting my new fabric purchases to ones that I think will be hot sellers and judging by how “Sherbet Pips” flew off the virtual shelves all over the internet I’m hoping I have a winner here. It arrived today and I plan on getting it listed tomorrow or Wednesday. It will be listed by the yard in my shop but as usual, if you need larger cuts just send me a convo on etsy and I’ll set up a reserved listing just for you! (If you are local, shoot me off an email and we can arrange a personal drug deal fabric shopping day.)

I haven’t done any new sewing this week. I did get a little machine embroidery project done that I’ll post at a later time. It still needs a little tweaking. I also had a minor alteration project for Emma’s freshman Homecoming dress. Again, pictures will be posted soon. Her complete ensemble is ADORABLE!

I have been planning my next projects but of course a quick trip to Joann’s for last minute supplies for the alteration project led to unplanned purchases and new ideas. First off, the best time of year is coming; Halloween! My friend and I are going as a “couple” costume this year. I’m going to keep it a bit of a secret for now but I did pick up a bolt (yes, BOLT!) of cheap fabric for these costumes. I will have to get to these very soon.  On a trip down the clearance sale aisle I spotted a bolt of $5/yd. ITY knit that I had eyed on a previous trip. I wasn’t sure about the pattern/color but because it had caught my attention twice now I figured that it was definitely sending me a message. I took it to the cutting table and asked for 3 yds. After she measured and cut it she gave me the exciting news that it was actually $2.50/yard. WINNING! Add to that that the pink costume fabric was also $2.50/yard I was having a very good day.

This is the fabric. What do you think? Is it retro-funky cute or horribly old-fashioned and frumpy? The young girl at the cutting table (mid-20s is my guess at her age) thought it was retro-cute and I agree. I’m not completely sure about the color but at least it isn’t orange! I also picked up Butterick 5030 on the $.99 sale and thought I’d use this fabric as my muslin. Now I’m not so sure. I thought it was designed for knits and was a mock-wrap dress but it isn’t. I think I had it confused with another pattern I had looked at earlier. Do I really want to attempt yet another wrap dress? Not really. So far I’ve only been marginally happy with the ones I’ve made and I may just be over it now. I do think this fabric calls for something retro styled however. I’m visualizing DVF inspired dress with a collar. For now it goes up on the shelf and marinates for a while because I have other things to work on now.

The fabric on the left is what is on the table for today. (Dang! It’s already 2:00 and I haven’t gotten started!) This ITY knit is from work. Another of the fabulous apparel fabrics we got in recently. It is obviously a Missoni knock-off and with the recent Missoni collection at Target, very much on trend right now. I’m going to make the Kwik Sew 3658 dress out of it. I just made the top and liked the way it fit and it was fast and easy to construct. I also chose this pattern because of its simple styling. This busy pattern fabric needs to be in something simple. I’m thinking of adding a black belt to break it up a little but I’ll see after it is done and decide what looks best. I’m also hoping the busy-ness of the fabric will help camouflage my body issues. (That and the help of Spanxx of course.)

In the top picture you may also notice a red ITY and a purple knit (might be ponte, don’t remember, just know it is a bit heavier than ITY). Those two have been brought to the cutting table and then moved back to the shelf a couple times each over the past few months. The purple is definitely going to be Vogue 8593. I’ve seen reviewed on Pattern Review and a couple blogs and really like the dress. I think it will be a nice classy dress for fall and winter. But I have a few concerns. One is the constant fear that it will be too tight across my belly and be unflattering. The second is that it might be too dressy for my lifestyle. Not that I have no need for a dressy dress. But just not often. I could wear it to work but it might be too much. So for now, back on the shelf it goes. The red ITY was originally intended to become the Kwik Sew dress above and if I like the print one, it still might be. Or it might become another “Perfect Knit Dress.” I’m sure some Gallery stalking at Pattern Review will bring up other possibilities. I love the color, one of my favorites to wear, so it has to become something soon.

So that’s what I am, should be working on right now. If I stay focused and don’t jinx myself by mentioning that I’ve gotten really good at switching my serger back and forth from over-lock to cover-stitch I might be able to get a dress made before dinner tonight. Did I mention that one of my co-workers calls me the “Chinese Take-out Seamstress”? I’m fast, good and give some people a headache. (She didn’t say the headache part, she’s too nice!)  Also when I finish one garment, in an hour I’m ready to start another one.

Zai Jian (That’s good-bye in Chinese, I think, if not, blame YahooAnswers)

I finally got another outfit completed, sort of, the skirt needs a little reworking but it is serviceable for now.

We got this Anna Maria Horner Voile (skirt) fabric into the store in the spring and I loved it immediately and knew that I wanted a skirt out of it. But I didn’t have anything to match with it and hadn’t come across the right fabric for a top. That is until we got in a great selection of tencel knits a couple  months ago. The dusky lavender was perfect.

I bought the KS3258 pattern during a Fabric.com sale earlier this summer. I have a couple RTW skirts in my closet with roughly this silhouette that I really like and I’ve had a Chanel-style jacket swimming around in my head for quite a long time. I’m not sure now that the gored construction was right for this fabric. I did my best to line up the motifs but I don’t like how they meet up at the waist. I probably should’ve gone with my initial idea and just made a simple straight pull-on elastic waist skirt. But if I wear the shirt un-tucked and cover the part I don’t like, it is pretty. The pattern calls for interfaced facings and a zipper. I didn’t have enough fabric for the facings and the RTW skirt I have like this just has grosgrain ribbon facing at the waist. I like this so I tried it on this skirt. It worked nicely but the waist is too big because I once again had a fat-girl-sizing-panic and worried that it wouldn’t fit and sewed the back seams at 3/8” instead of 5/8” in addition to cutting the XL instead of the L size. So now the waist is about 3” too big. Matilda has more junk in her trunk than I do so on her it sits differently, on me it is too big in the waist and just right in the hips, I really need a fitting mannequin that closer reflects my size. The hips fit fine so I may just have to do some minor adjusting. One idea is to remove the grosgrain facing and the zipper and put in fold over elastic as originally planned. That would be fussy (I hate ripping stitches, especially on something as delicate as this) but probably the best. The other idea is to re-stitch the back seams deeper and then reapply the grosgrain. Or I could take off the grosgrain, shorten it and then ease the skirt edges to the ribbon at the proper circumference. No matter what I choose, it will be a pain in the butt, but over all probably worth it because as it is now the skirt sits really low on my hips and if I do manage to lose even a minimal amount of weight, it will be in danger of falling off. I loved this fabric for so long that I really must remedy this skirt someday. I’m not sure when that day will be because even though we are enjoying (?) a very warm Labor Day weekend right now, I know the weather will be cooling off soon and this outfit just won’t be season appropriate for much longer. Maybe I’ll stick it in my closet for a few months and pull it back out for Easter and re-do it then.

The T-shirt Pattern 3784, is a success however. Again I took inspiration from RTW items that I already own and know that I like. I did kind of Frankenstein the pattern views together to get the look I wanted. I wanted the flounced neckline but I wanted sleeves, but short sleeves. Not a hard thing to do. The sleeveless version has a slightly different armhole so I used the body and sleeve pieces from view A, shortened the sleeves and added the flounce from View B. I left the edges of the flounce raw because this knit doesn’t ravel or curl when cut on the bias or in a circle such as this. One of my co-workers was experimenting with it at the store and found that it didn’t hold a rolled hem very well plus I didn’t want the added bulk along the edge of a serged rolled hem. I don’t have problems with the narrow facings flipping out, they are under-stitched and top-stitched under the flounce, but I don have some problems with the flounce flipping in. I also like the depth of the V-neck, not too low, not too high and no gaposis. I’m sure I will be pulling this pattern out again for more shirts of varying sleeve lengths.

I did wear this to work this week and my boss and co-workers had nice things to say. I’m really trying to add more wardrobe pieces made from patterns and fabrics that we sell to help promote fashion sewing to our customers. It’s a hard sell in the deeply entrenched quilting world that I live in here in the Midwest but I know there are more kindred spirits out there!

On another only slightly related note. I did spend some time this week updating and organizing my Etsy shop. I had ordered some Moda It’s A Hoot fabric this summer and never got around to listing it in my shop. While working on that I noticed a number of other fabrics missing from my store and got those relisted. Whenever I do this it generates a nice little burst of activity and sales. Always good! So if you have been looking for It’s a Hoot  or Tula Pink Hushabye fabrics I suggest you get over there quick and get them while they last because some of them are getting low already. There are also some older but still great looking and high quality Moda and Freespirit fabrics at great prices, some barely over what I paid for them wholesale!

I made this pattern before and wasn’t pleased at all with the results. There were a number of reasons why it didn’t work before. For one I made a size too big and used stretchy fabric, the combination made them saggy and unflattering. The pockets added to the weird fit in the front and I eliminated them this time.

I almost used McCall’s 5239 for these because I like the fit on those and the pockets go in nicely without sagging and gapping at the side seams. But they have a narrower leg than I wanted for these so I went with the Vogue pattern. I could’ve combined the two patterns but I was being lazy.

Overall I am happy with the results. The fit is better than the shorts I made previously, I went down a size. I did have to taper off to a 3/8” seam allowance at the sides just to be sure they wouldn’t be too small. Next time I will add a bit to the sides unless I’m using something with some stretch. I’m hoping these will soften with wear and laundering. I don’t intend to iron and starch them to keep them crisp, I want soft linen pants.

The best part about these two pieces is that I made them both in ONE day. I even took my daughters to doctor’s appointments today and still had time to make an outfit. Add in my usual internet distractions and that I got caught up on last week’s “So You Think You Can Dance?” and I’d say this outfit was low on the time commitment scale. WINNING!

Same shirt, different day.

I made the navy polyester tunic version last week, I just hadn’t switched my machine back over to coverstitch to finish the hems so it sat waiting to be finished. Today I made the black Tencel short-sleeved version (and the linen pants but that is another post!)

I put up a complete review on Sewing Pattern Review of both versions. Needless to say, I love this pattern! It sews up so fast, especially since I can use the serger for almost all of it. The slowest thing about it is converting my machine back and forth from over-lock to cover-stitch.

We finally received the fashion fabrics at the store last week. I was so excited! There is a collection of the soft Tencel knits in a nice selection of colors. I’m planning to buy some of every color (Except the orange!) the make shirts. This pattern may get pulled out a few more times for them. There is also a ITY print that is pretty wild and fun that would make a cute tunic in this pattern.

I really wanted to love this pattern. I really did. But I don’t. I’m not even sure that a different view, different fabric or slightly larger size would help. I just have to accept that this silhouette isn’t right for me. I wanted something summery and comfortable for work and casual. You know, my usual search for an alternative to shorts in the summer. I do love this fabric. I found it at Joann on sale a few weeks ago. It has a very “Liberty of London” look to it. The colors are fun.

I had no issues with the pattern overall. The way the instructions for the box pleats was written was a little weird but I managed. I also had a bit of a problem with the zipper but that was user error and not the fault of the pattern. I ended up having to take the first zip out and put in a new one because I broke the first one. My second attempt was rushed, annoyed and less than perfect. Oh well.

I will probably still wear this skirt, but maybe not as much as I had thought. When it is 90+ degrees outside with 100% humidity, sometimes you just want cool and as cute as possible and you don’t care if it is the most sophisticated and polished look in the universe. It is seriously more flattering on me than the shorts I made last month! That’s not saying much I know but I’ll take what I can get.