Sunday, April 24, 2011

Life got in the way........again.

I've finally been able to get back into the sewing room after many months of not doing much in there.  I was working on a quilt with the jelly roll and cutting my pieces when we received a phone call that my MIL was being taken to the ER, this was the 28th of January.....she passed away the next day.  We were consumed with the details of everything and I just had a hard time getting back in there and especially blogging about the little I was doing in there.  Anyway I worked on the quilt until I decided I needed to make some garments, so I folded it all away in a drawer until the fall!

So now that that is out of the way...I'm heading to Chicago in May for the 10th anniversary PR weekend, my first!  And one of the things that I need are some clothes that I have made.  So I worked on the McCall's pattern mentioned in my last post I think.

I cut out my muslin on Friday and tweaked it a bit, then cut my fabric that I bought last spring from a huge sewing store in the Orlando area that the name has completely slipped my mind.  Here are some pics of me wearing the dress with LOTS of spandex garment underneath :-)!  I may wear this to the luncheon on Sunday in Chicago. 


This pattern was so easy to sew and I may make it again.  The ruching on the sides were the trickiest part of the dress.  The ruching was great on the back but the sides it seemed to kind of disappear once I sewed the stay tape in place.  I used the serger on most of the dress and maybe that is why the sides seams and the ruching seemed to disappear, maybe I cut off too much of the gathering.  I think it looks fine, so I'm very happy with it. 

My next dress project is in the works...the muslin is cut and I'm ready to sew except the long weekend is just about over and work again on Monday.  I'll try to get in there tomorrow after work. 

Until next time.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Check!! Another off the list.....

Finished the purple knit dress/jacket today.  It took me way longer than it should have to sew and finish this pattern.  I decided to pull out the Coverpro to do the neckline/sleeve/hems.  Of course since it had been almost a year since I used it, I had to relearn how to use the machine.  I had a few problems getting the stitches to form correctly, but it will do.  Not perfect but acceptable.   
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I'm planning on wearing this tomorrow, so I'll post pictures.

Next is on to McCall's 6194
- pajamas for my grandson.  I have fabric leftover from his last pair that I'm going to make and another knit that I was going to make for him when I made the last pair.  He has grown so much, that those are way too short for him.

That's all for now...happy sewing!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Plans go as planned!

My plans for the sewing room yesterday came through without a hitch.

1st - the glue stick worked beautifully to get the pattern matched perfectly on the home dec fabric for my SIL.  So that is out of the sewing room and on its way to New Jersey.

2nd - the purple knit jacket came out better than I thought it would.  The sleeves are bit short, but I usually push my sleeves up on knits anyway. 

I think the reason I think it looks better is because of my new serger.  The finish on the edge for the collar and front is so much better looking than the last one I did with the gray.  I put purple wooly nylon in both loopers and changed the differential feed to N, used only the left needle, and used a small stitch width and a tiny stitch length, one click up from the satin stitch length.  Here is a close up of the finish on the edge.
That is it for now.  The purple dress is next on the plan of action.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

A New Year......2011

Gosh, the last year went by so fast!  I didn't get to do near as much in the sewing room as I had planned, here's to hoping 2011 will get more projects started and FINISHED!

First of all here is the finished Mama's Boy Quilt that I started back here
Backing

Backing and binding..all machine stitched

Quilt front - my first machine quilted quilt using free motion quilting
And here are a two items that I scored as Christmas gifts that were sewing related!  A Moda jelly roll
And my quilting group had a gift exchange and I received this fat quarter bag that was made using 6 fat quarters. I have the pattern but now I don't need to make me one! There is even paisley fabric in this....


For now I have my dress and jacket cut out.
 I'm using this pattern McCall's 5890

 which I have made before here.  That version is now too large and can't be altered to fit because of the depth of the armholes.  So I'm making again in a smaller size and I already knew what alterations I wanted to make to the fullness of the skirt.


 The serger is all threaded with the purple thread and is ready to sew.  But first I have to get the home dec fabric sewed together for my SIL. 
I had some trouble getting the patterns to match at the seams, so I've had to get some fabric glue and I'm hoping this does the trick.  The fabric seems to be an open weave and even using the walking foot, the pattern goes out of wack towards the end of the seam.  Fingers crossed that the glue does the trick. 

And of course I HAD to buy a new pattern This is from the McCall's Spring 2011 book.  I have several pieces of knit that I want to make either a dress or a top.  So the plans keep going!  I'm really going to try to NOT buy any fabric for quite some time since I have a LOT in my stash and it is time to use it up.

You will notice a link on the side to MPB Men's Shirt Sew Along...I'm not participating by sewing; only by promoting and reading all about it.  It should be a good read as Peter always adds a bit of humor to his sewing as well as some wonderful insight.

Bye for now so that I can try seaming the home dec, here's to hoping the glue works so that I can move on to the purple dress!