Kwik Sew 3915

This is the top that I made to go with the yellow printed skirt posted earlier.  I used a white chiffon that I ruched at the top around the neckline.  It is of a great fabric purchased from the swimsuit and active wear section at Joann's.  This fabric has great stretch recovery.  I will be making a few more of these!

I wish this fabric came in more colors other than white and black.

And More!!!

I know I'm on a roll with this...only because there is NOTHING going on at work and if I blog and review on PR, then I won't peruse the interwebs and buy more fabric!!!!

Here is Vogue 1275 that I made to go with the black and white print skirt Butterick 5466. I trimmed it with bead and sequin trim from Joann's. The fabric is an April Johnston for Project Runway cotton/lycra - it is a bit thin, but I made it work. Overall I'm pleased with the completed outfit.  

More!!

Here is my completed versions of Butterick 5466. The first one is the Black and White print from Joann Fabrics.  It is a bit large in the waist so when I made the yellow printed one I cut the waist down to the smaller size.  It looks big on the dress form because she has no squishy fluff at the waist!!!  The yellow print came from Joann Fabrics as well, it is just not as thick as the black and white fabric.  It seems to have more stretch to it, but they were both purchased from the same section of the store - Bottomweight stretch poplin.

Vogue 8805

Gosh, It has been well over a year since I posted...time flies when you are having fun!  I'm been sewing....a lot!  And when I sew that much, I just don't take the time to blog about it!  This is my last creation:

Vogue 8805 

Vogue 8805 back

I made this from 100% poly crepe and lined it with bemberg rayon.  This is a very easy pattern and I will be making this again in brighter colors for the summer!

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.

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!

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.

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!

Christmas Sewing or lack there of!

Just an update.  I've been sewing, just nothing worthy of posting pictures of.  I made 4 stockings to hang on the mantle and they came out OK, nothing too special. 

I have my Mama's Boy quilt all layered and pin basted.  It is ready for the quilting part....scary!  I also have the purple dress all cut out and the serger is threaded and ready to go.  Before I can get in there to work on those items, I need to get into the guest room and prepare it for Christmas guests.  My daughter and my grandson are coming in on Thursday and leave next Monday.  Then my brother and sister-in-law are coming in on Tuesday next week and leaving on New Year's Day.  So.....if I don't get to get in there to sew tomorrow, I won't get to until next year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Finished with Thanksgiving Weekend PJ Sew Along

I didn't get to spend all day in the sewing room today, only a few hours.  I did finish the PJ's ---and they are VERY bright!!

I totally forgot to mention that I made a tote bag from this pattern last weekend.

Here is the finished bag --- shhhh....it is a Birthday present for my sister!!!

Tomorrow is Christmas decorating day so I won't get to sew much, if at all.  Maybe I will get to cut out my deep purple knit dress and jacket during the week and sew a bit next weekend.  Until the next time.....

After Turkey Day Sewing

I got to spend the ENTIRE day in the sewing room!!!  That hasn't happened in a very, very long time.

First I finished the pajama pants

for the PJ Sew along with Ann from Gorgeous Fabrics.  (Thank you Ann for starting this sew along...I needed the push to get these PJ's made since I had originally cut them out in September of last year!!)  And then I started on the top, but stopped for a bit to let the collar cool on the tailors ham before I attached it to the neckline of the PJ top.

So I made this - a thread catcher with a pin cushion attached.  A practical bit of sewing.  Then I got back to my PJ's and this is where I left off for the night. 

Tomorrow after I go to Weight Watchers, nail appointment and then to buy groceries for the week...I will attach the cuffs on the sleeves, the pocket, the hem and then the buttons and buttonholes.  I should finish by Sunday.

Wednesday night I re cut the PJ's from the Large that I had original cut back in September 2009 to a Medium, but after trying them on...I think I could have cut the Small.  Oh well, they will be extra roomy and comfortable for sleeping and lounging around in.

For the next project after the PJ's are finished I have a deep purple stable knit that I will make another dress and jacket with.  I made this same pattern here.  I LOVED this dress and jacket and wore it many times but when I was putting all my summer clothes away last weekend and pulling the fall clothes out, it was too big and I wasn't going to be able to alter it to fit..at least the dress.  I probably could wear the jacket but the dress armholes were too big along with the rest of the dress.  So I decided I would just make a new dress and went to Hancock's the other day.  It is actually the same knit I used on the grey dress except it is purple.  I know how well this knit washes and dries, so there will be no surprises.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

I'm back in the sewing room!!!

The quilt class was fantastic!  I now feel much more confident that I can machine quilt!  I know I will need to practice, but I really think this is something I can do.

My new serger arrived on Friday, so I got to sew with it Sunday and I've been using it a bit each night.

Here is my Tissue Tote that I made from the free pattern I received at The Teacher's Pet booth in Houston.



And then I made.....12 more!  Gifts!  Free!  Made with fabric scraps in the stash!

I also made a cute little pin cushion.  And I have 5 more of those to make.....because they are cute!  I'll post pictures of all of them later.  Tomorrow night is the quilt guild meeting, so no sewing then.   Friday night I plan to start on the PJ's out of the same fabric as the gift tissue totes.  They have been cut out since last September and now I have to adjust the pattern size used because they will be too large now.  Hopefully it won't be too much of a pain to fix that.  Until then..... Happy Sewing.

Houston Quilt Festival - What a weekend!

I actually made it to the Houston Quilt Festival this year, my first time!  It was fantastic awesome fabulous!  I made the decision to go last Tuesday afternoon after getting a bit of feedback from some posts on PR and the idea was given to me to try Priceline.com for a hotel room.  I didn't even look to see if any of the Host Hotels still had rooms, so I gave Priceline a try.  First I put in $60 and it came back and said to try $75 for a 4 star or better hotel.  So I gave it a try and low and behold it came back at $75 at the Houston Hyatt Downtown just 11 blocks from the convention center where the Festival was being held.  So, I got up at 4 am Saturday morning and headed out to Houston.  I arrived about 9:15 into traffic due to road construction right downtown at my exit to the Hyatt.  I made my way to the Hyatt Valet parking and the valet suggested I try to check in.  As luck would have it, they let me check in!!  I put my stuff in my room and then headed to the convention center and the weather was perfect for an 11 block walk!  I met up with my neighbor and her sister and we proceeded to have a day of SHOPPING!!  Here is a picture of the loot I purchased. I know I said I wasn't becoming a quilter....but I think I might be....it is just so much fun.

I'll describe...Bottom left is a pair of curved snips to cut those jump stitches in my machine embroidery designs, a pair of reverse tweezers- for changing those needles, a quilt pattern to make the with the fabric in the upper left, a slip pad for machine quilting, a tote bag pattern and the fabric that I will use that is folded in the star package and a straight stitch plate for my sewing machine.  In the next row is a freebie of a tissue holder pattern with the fabric and then a few pins that were freebies and the luggage tag from Babylock that was a freebie along with the tote bag.  Also here is the ergonomic rotoray cutter and some nonslip pads for rulers.  I also bought the ruler that has a lip for this rotary cutter to fit on but they were sold out so it is being shipped.  To the upper right are 3 different sized rulers from Quilt In A Day by Eleanor Burns and her cute shopping bag.  I even got to meet her in person!  Then there is the red halo for machine quilting and the last 2 items shown are 2 different patterns for quilt in the hoop for the embroidery machine.  My neighbor and I split this purchase - it was buy 2 get 1 free so we split the cost and will share them.  She took the other one to her house.  And the biggest and most exciting purchase is the ......

Babylock Imagine serger!!!  It has Jet Air Threading for the Upper and Lower loopers!  Wow is all I can say.  It is being shipped and I can't wait to get it.  That means that I can actually change threads when I am serging something.  I have had the same white thread in my other serger because it takes my 30 to 45 minutes to change the thread on the darn thing.  Anyway, we spent the entire day shopping at the vendors and then we all had dinner at a wonderful greek restaurant somewhere in Houston.  I'm sure I could never find it again!  Sunday morning I had a leisure breakfast at the hotel then went upstairs and packed and headed down to checkout around 10:00 am and then headed to the parking garage next to the convention center.  I parked then contacted my SIL and we met up and viewed the award winning quilts and most of the other entries.  Wonderful quilters out there!  I then left my SIL and moved back into the vendor floor where I visited the Floriani booth to talk with them about my software.  She spent a good 45 minutes with me and I feel much better about trying to digitize now.  I headed back out around 1:30 and made it home around 6:15 pm!  Whew!  What a weekend.

As you can tell, the Quilt Festival was a great success for shopping. 

This Saturday I'm taking my machine quilting class that was cancelled from a few months back.  A few of the items I purchased will be used in the class.

I'll post how the class went!

Completions

I'm finally back in the sewing room after my working/R&R trip to Porto, Portugal.  I returned late Wednesday, Oct 13th and needed a day to recover!  Last Sunday I finished trimming the binding for the quilt and then I took 4 evenings to hand stitch the binding to the quilt.  Today I made the label and attached it.

I took the quilt to my Sassi Srippers Quilt Guild club on Thursday and they told me the name of the pattern was Hole in the Barn Door.  I had no idea what the pattern was and surely appreciated the info.  Here is the finished quilt.

Then I worked on the embroidery of the book cover for our Iota Epsilon yearbook, for our newest member, Joan.  I finished that and will give it to her this weekend at our "Get-A-Way" weekend in Tickfaw State Park.  I'm giving Paula the quilt then as well.

Those were 2 items needing to get finished before the end of October!

Now I want to finish the Mama's Boy Quilt that I started in January and work on a few items that I had plans for gifts.  My machine quilting class is now rescheduled for November 13th.  So I'm looking forward to that too.

Here is a few pics of Porto!

Until next time.....

Purple, Purple and more Purple!

Want to see what I've been working on all weekend? A purple quilt!  My friend Paula's mother-in-law passed away almost a year ago.  She was a quilter.  Paula found this quilt top along with the backing fabric in a bag and I volunteered to quilt it for her so that she would have it finished for the anniversary of her death next month.  I found the fabric to make the binding and bought the batting and finally got started Saturday afternoon.  I tell you, now I know why it is SO important to press your squares after you have pieced them going a certain way!  It sure has been a challange getting this quilted when the blocks aren't exactly square and the seams not pressed properly.  It has been a wonderful learning experience.  Here is the quilt top layed out for the basting with safety pins.

I've worked on it all weekend, today ALL day except to eat lunch and dinner. I've finished the quilting and have made the 30 yards of binding.

Here is  a close up of the binding.  I couldn't believe I found something that would match so well.

Here is what the quilt looked like when I finished quilting.

The back is the solid dark purple that was used on the blocks.  It seems that the blocks were made in 1986 since 2 of them were dated with the person's name that made the block.  The story is that Rita's (Paula's mother-in-law) quilting group made the blocks and then they were put into this quilt.  Several are signed by the person's name and others aren't.  It is pretty remarkable for me to be working on something like this.  I feel like I've finishing up a piece of history.  I wonder if the other ladies that worked on it are still living and do they wonder what happened to the quilt?  Some of the blocks were hand stitched and others were machine stitched.

I hope to get to work on it a bit more next weekend, but if not it will have to wait until the middle of October since I am leaving on October 6th for Porto Portugal for a work meeting....and a bit of R & R with my husband since the 8th will be our 34th wedding anniversary!

After this quilt is finished, I'm going to finish the Mama's Boy quilt I started earlier this year!  I'm really not turning into a quilter...full time at least, I will get back to garments one day!!

Later!



Sorry for the massive absenteeism!!

I have been very, very absent from posting, not sewing...but posting. 

I left off after I wore the dress I had been working on.  Since that time I have finished another dress, with the same pattern

AND took my trip to London!  We had a great time - we did have a chance to see the Grace Kelly exhibit

at the V & A.  It was wonderful. Sewing related, I went to a nice fabric store (I don't remember the name) I didn't buy anything there.  They did have the fabrics displayed a bit different than I've ever seen.  They had strips of the fabric hanging from  pants hangers and then those were on round racks with the price/content/location on a cardboard piece on the hanger.  If you wanted a swatch, you just cut a piece from the bottom.  All the actual bolts of fabric were stacked on top of each other along the walls.  Not the most appealing way to display, but efficient.  Then we went to the Liberty Dept. Store....beautiful fabrics!  I bought 3 different fabrics there and it was very hard to decide on just those 3 (limited luggage space).

Once home, I had to begin my next project...an A, B, C baby quilt

for my soon to be born Great Niece.  The shower is in 2 weeks and all I have left is to stitch the binding down. I just can't decide if I want to try the stitch in the ditch with invisible thread, or hand stitch it. I decided to hand stitch!  It came out really nice, for my first "real" quilt.  A few stitches are showing since I did the stitch in the ditch - I wasn't always in the ditch....I was even using my machine magnifying glass.

As soon as I finish this quilt, I'm going back to the "Mama's Boy" quilt that I started in January.  I feel more confident to be able to finish it now that I had success with the baby quilt.  I'm also taking a machine quilting class next Saturday.  It should really help me a lot.  I'm looking forward to the class so much.

One other thing that I almost forgot to mention was my first vintage machine that I purchased on E-bay from a seller in Canada a Bernina 121 born somewhere around 1957. She is a beaut and she purrs like a kitten. I have had some trouble with the stitches but I'm sure it is a threading problem.